Tajikistan and Shanghai cooperation organization

The Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO) is an international organization,  creation of which was mainly laid by the “Shanghai Five”, created on the basis of Agreements between the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation on confidence-building in the military field in border area from 1996 and on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border area from 1997.

The Dushanbe Declaration of the SCO Heads of State (July 4, 2000) noted the need to transform the Shanghai Five into a regional structure of multilateral cooperation in various fields.

In 2000 in the capital of Tajikistan, at the last summit of the Shanghai Five, the idea to transform this format into a regional structure of multilateral cooperation was born.

It was the signal from the heads of state that served as the basis for the fact that exactly a year later, on June 15, 2001, at the next meeting of heads of state in Shanghai, a joint statement on the admission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Shanghai Five was adopted and a Declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed.

Today, the SCO is an authoritative and promising organization of international cooperation and a new model of effective regional interaction. The SCO covers a huge space, its total area is approximately 65% and the total population is more than 3.5 billion, or around 50% of the total population of the Earth, which are united not only by a new form of cooperation in terms of political structure, economic potential and cultural diversity, but the “Shanghai spirit” set out in the SCO Charter, principles and goals, a common program of action and the aspiration to achieve the desired results in all dimensions as well.

In September 2014 in Dushanbe, at a meeting of the Council of the SCO Heads of member states, the Procedure for granting the status of a member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was approved, which made it possible for other states to join the Organization. In June 2017 at the Astana Summit, the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan received the status of SCO member states.

During the Dushanbe commemorative summit, it was decided to begin the procedure for admitting Iran to upgrade its status to a full member state of the SCO. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar received dialogue partner status. Thus, today the composition of the SCO has increased from 18 to 21 states.

Currently, the Organization consists of 10 member states (the Republic of India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Republic of Belarus), 2 observer states (the Afghanistan, Mongolia) and 14 dialogue partner countries (the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the State of Qatar, the State of Kuwait, the Republic of Maldives, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Turkiye, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka).

The main goals of the SCO include: strengthening mutual trust and good neighborliness between member countries; promoting their effective cooperation in political, trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural spheres, as well as in the fields of education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection and others; jointly ensuring and maintaining peace, security and stability in the region; progress towards the creation of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.

35 statutory bodies of the SCO and over 45 working mechanisms for interaction in various fields have been established and are functioning.

The SCO Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) are permanent bodies that began functioning in January 2004. The SCO Secretariat is located in Beijing, and the SCO RATS Executive Committee is located in Tashkent.

The official languages of the SCO are Russian and Chinese.

One of the main directions of the SCO is the fight against terrorism, separatism, extremism and other threat and challenges. In this regard, the SCO RATS was created for the purpose of systematic and targeted activities. Joint anti-terrorism and military exercises are being held within the SCO.

It is worth noting that such exercises were also conducted in the Republic of Tajikistan. On April 17-19, 2009, the Norak-anti-terror command and staff exercises took place in the Republic of Tajikistan. As part of military cooperation, an exercise called “Peace Mission” also took place. On June 8-14, 2012, the “Peace Mission 2012” exercise was held at the Chorukh-Dairon training ground in the Republic of Tajikistan, in which military units of the SCO member states took part.

The Republic of Tajikistan, being one of the founding states and an active participant of the SCO, chaired the Heads of State Council in 2008, 2014 and 2021 and the SCO Heads of Government Council (Prime Ministers) in 2006, 2010, 2018. Attaching priority to interaction within the framework of this Organization, Tajikistan directs efforts to further strengthen good neighborliness, friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and increase the international authority of the SCO based on the principle of continuity and in accordance with the fundamental documents of the Organization on the basis of equality and mutual respect for the interests of all member states.

Dushanbe summit in 2021 has become an important stage in the history of the SCO and has significantly enriched the content of the agenda. It is noteworthy that the anniversary summit of the SCO (20 years of the SCO) coincided with the year of Tajikistan’s chairmanship of the SCO.

The anniversary summit marked the completion of the successful chairmanship of the Republic of Tajikistan in the SCO in 2020-2021, confirmed by the signed solid package of documents, the number of which reached thirty for the first time in the history of the SCO.

During the period of the Tajik chairmanship, under the slogan “20 years of the SCO: cooperation for stability and prosperity,” about a hundred joint events were held, effective measures were taken to further develop multifaceted cooperation within the Organization, comprehensive work was carried out, effective measures were efficiently promoted to strengthen the SCO and increase its authority.

The main document adopted as a result of the anniversary summit was the Dushanbe Declaration of the SCO's twentieth anniversary, which reflected the main results of the SCO's twenty-year activities and the common position of the member countries on key issues of regional and global politics. Without a doubt, the document has become an important guideline for the Organization in the near future and has designated new vectors for the SCO development.

As part of Tajikistan's chairmanship, new platforms for interaction were launched - meetings of the ministers of industry and energy of the SCO member states.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Center for Friendship and Cooperation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tajikistan was opened at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan.

In the year of the Tajik presidency in SCO 2020-2021 on the initiative of Tajikistan, its own SCO Anthem was compiled, which was sounded for the first time at the anniversary summit.

On July 4, 2023, at the next SCO summit, was adopted the Strategy for the Economic Development of the region until 2030. This important document was adopted by the heads of state of the Organization on the initiative of the President of Tajikistan E. Rahmon. This document covers all sectors of the economy with an emphasis on “green development”. The launch of its implementation can become a steam engine for real practical cooperation in order to ensure stable economic growth and improve the standard of living of the population of the SCO region.