Упрощенная HTML-версия
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
Author : K. Barsky
National Coordinator of the Russian Federation for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Ambas-
sador at Large
ON JUNE 15, 2011, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) marked its jubilee with a festive fireworks display that
lit up the Kazakh skies. Ten years ago, the Kazakh, Chinese,
Kyrgyz, Russian, Tajik, and Uzbek heads of state signed a
declaration on the establishment of the SCO in Shanghai.
The results of the decade of the new regional organization's
development were summed up by the SCO heads of state at
a summit meeting in the capital of Kazakhstan, the majestic
Astana.
The appearance of the SCO came as a natural reaction by its
founding states to the dangerous increase of such threats as
terrorism, separatism and extremism against the backdrop
of the general imbalance within the system of international relations that has evolved since
the end of the Cold War. In order to break the negative trends and reliably ensure their
own, as well as regional security the said countries decided to employ multilateral cooper-
ation tools.
The SCO has offered a fundamentally new model of interstate partnership characterized
by the genuine equality of big and small countries, mutual trust, respect for diversity, and
the striving for collective wellbeing.
TODAY THE WORLD is changing rapidly. Globalization is accompanied by growing in-
terdependence, dynamic integration processes and a close intertwining of the interests of
different international players, both governmental and non-governmental. There is an on-
going comprehensive reconfiguration of modern international relations, their basic vector
being the formation of a multipolar world.
Over time it is becoming more and more obvious that bloc-to-bloc politics has no FU-
TURE . Narrowly circumscribed, nontransparent military structures should be replaced
by multilateral network diplomacy based on fundamentally new forms of interaction be-
tween states.
The SCO as such also needs to advance further: It should continue to develop as a full-
fledged regional organization responsible for the situation in its "home area." The SCO is
a growing organism, and the majority of issues it has to deal with in its daily life are growth
difficulties, so to speak.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: A New Word in World
Politics