Shanghai Cooperation Organization

25.12.2009

One of the priorities of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the Organization is to further improve the effectiveness of the SCO.

In June this year the Republic of Uzbekistan assumed chairmanship of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). As part of this leadership, our country has taken active steps to further strengthen the fruitful and effective cooperation among SCO member states.

Continuation of policy proved and tested in practice, implementation of best practices and elaboration of new relevant documents are the most important priorities in the activity of SCO during the presidency of Uzbekistan.

Our country has always paid special attention to further improvement in the effectiveness of SCO. This can be achieved through the development of its international contacts and strengthening the legal framework, strict compliance with the aims, objectives and principles of SCO Charter, elaboration and implementation of initiatives related to security and stability in the region. All these measures are aimed at fostering the performance and the international prestige of SCO.

In this context, the initiatives of Uzbekistan are considerably important. These initiatives have been put forward by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov at the meeting of national coordinators of SCO member states in Tashkent on September 11, 2009. They are aimed at improving the decision-making mechanisms within the organization as well as the activities of SCO and its departments.

Basically, the proposed measures are aimed at implementing the priority areas of work as well as raising the SCO’s authority in the global community and the development of its international contacts.

In this regard, SCO member countries should carefully and skillfully use the rostrum of the UN to address the pressing issues and promote the interests of the Organization and its members.

Establishing a dialogue with the European Union is also an important task for the SCO.

Further enhancement of cooperation in providing for security and stability in the region, combating terrorism, separatism and extremism within the SCO is one of the priority areas. Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the SCO ought to play a special role in this realm. It should be noted in this context that the networking of the Executive Committee of the RATS with the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council, establishment of contacts with the anti-terrorist structures of ASEAN are rather useful for the SCO.

The development of cooperation in trade and investment fields is another important activity of the Organization.

Legal framework and institutional mechanisms for cultivation of economic cooperation have been formed within the SCO. Thirty-three major agreements on cooperation in economy and investment signed to date are a clear indication of this factor. It is quite important to improve the efficiency of investment cooperation and direct ties between economic entities of SCO countries in the implementation of joint projects.

According to experts, compliance with the agreements governing the rules and principles of the export and import operations is one of the most underlying factors for the promotion of economic cooperation within the SCO.

Current conditions dictate the necessity of acknowledging the highest priority of increasing the effectiveness of economic cooperation, steady implementation of projects related to the development of transport communications, modern international centers of logistics, trade and tourism, construction of new enterprises and introduction of innovation technologies.

Under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan, the SCO focuses on improving the legal framework of the Organization. To date, within the SCO there is no single document that governs the process of initiation, development, harmonization and issuance of normative legal documents. At the initiative of Uzbekistan work on the draft of Rules of Procedure of SCO is performed taking into account the experience of SCO and other international organizations.

Today the SCO is an established international organization. A growing number of countries have expressed willingness to become members, observers or dialogue partners. Therefore, it was projected to finalize the draft of Regulation on the admission of new members to SCO by the time the next meeting of heads of SCO member states takes place.

Following the logic of successive steps of the SCO in this way, we must expedite the preparation of necessary legal documents governing the admission of observers to the full membership of the Organization.

We should remind that the next summit of SCO will be held in Tashkent in June 2010.

Source: Uzbekistan Today newspaper