The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit 2022 began yesterday. The event marks great importance for the geopolitical relations of Pakistan with its neighboring countries.
What is Shanghai Cooperation Organization?
Headquartered in Beijing, the SCO — made up of China, India, Pakistan, Russia, and the ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — was set up in 2001 as a political, economic, and security organization to rival Western institutions. In terms of geographic scope and population, it is the world’s largest regional organization, covering approximately 60% of the area of Eurasia, 40% of the world population, and more than 30% of the global GDP.
The central theme of the Summit is Digital Diplomacy and Governance. According to the Russian news agency TASS, Uzbekistan’s President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, outlined the priorities and tasks of the chairmanship. These include efforts to raise the potential and authority of the organization, ensure peace and stability in the region, reduce poverty, and ensure food security. Furthermore, he urged putting together a plan for the development of intraregional trade, which will include measures to eliminate trade barriers, align technical regulations and digitalize customs procedures.
What is the importance of the Summit for Pakistan?
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit popularly known as SCO yesterday. This is the first-in person SCO summit in two years after the virtual conferences of 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In June 2017, Pakistan along with India gained the permanent membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in its 16th Heads of State Summit in Astana. Pakistan’s inclusion in Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is optimistically
seen as a turning point in the changing geopolitical landscape of the Eurasian belt, as
well as bringing new opportunities for Pakistan.
As its permanent member, Pakistan hopes to attain immense support to address its economic, security, and social issues. By sharing a membership with two major regional powers, Russia and China, in SCO, Pakistan sees itself as an elevated contributor to regional development. Moreover, full membership in the SCO has the potential to improve the image of Pakistan in the international arena.
Way Forward:
Among other issues, militancy in Pakistan has been a major impediment to the foreseeable development of the country. Pakistan has been under constant threat of militancy near its northern and western borders. Furthermore, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has posed another greater threat, where multiple reports have claimed the reemergence of militant groups in South Waziristan and Swat regions which were previously demilitarized by the Pakistan Army in anti-terrorist operations. While this is disturbing, it immediately calls for Pakistan to gather international support from forums like SCO which have specialized anti-terrorist structures for counter-insurgency.
