10th Anniversary Summit of The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) celebrated its 10th anniversary on 15 June 2011 in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, by summing up its achievements and outlining its future direction. The six-nation SCO member states are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. India, Pakistan and Iran are  with Observer status in the SCO. The leaders and participants in the summit were Kyrgyz, President Roza Otunbayeva, Tajik, President Emomali Rakhmon, Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Chinese President, Hu Jintao, Uzbek President Islam Karimov. SCO's Secretary-General, Muratbek Imanaliev, Collective Security Treaty Organization’s Secretary-General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director, Yury Fedotov, Mongolian Presidential Office Head, Dashjamts Battulga, Pakistan President, Asif Ali Zardari, Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Afghan President, Hamid Karzai and Indian External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna were the other attendants of the summit.

SCO’s joint declaration

The joint declaration of the summit included (1) establishing an inseparable international security community to guard information security,(2)  fighting the three evil forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, and (3) combating drug trafficking.
The adoption of Astana Declaration gave the SCO member states a chance to review their progress so far and map out the way ahead.

Afghanistan was poised to be upgraded from Dialogue Partner to Observer which would give it access to all discussions of importance at the SCO. By Afghanistan’s involvement with the SCO, Afghanistan could become the geo-strategic bridge between Central and South Asia as well as a trade and transit hub. India is already involved with the SCO's Regional Anti-terrorism Centre (RATS). All SCO countries i.e. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (India, Pakistan and Iran are among with Observer status) virtually ring Afghanistan that shares ethnic linkages with most of them. After Afghanistan’s becoming an Observer, South Asia would become contiguous to Central Asia in the SCO. This would help all neighbouring countries achieve the two aims they desire in the region for Afghanistan i.e. the Afghanistan becomes a geo-strategic bridge as well as a terror-free zone.

About SCO

•    SCO was founded on 15 June 2001.
•    The SCO was born of the need of sharing the member countries growing desire to enhance mutual trust, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and address challenges through joint efforts.
•    In 10 years, since its inception, the SCO member states have signed more than 100 cooperative documents and established multi-tiered, wide-ranging consultative mechanisms, playing an irreplaceable role in the Euro-Asian geopolitical structure.
•    The SCO has expanded cooperation in political, security, economic, cultural and other fields, under the guidance of the ‘Shanghai Spirit’, which endorses mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development.