The heads of the six-member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) signed a landmark pact on Thursday that boosts the development of the SCO.

 

The Treaty on Long-term Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation was signed at the SCO summit held in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital. The treaty is also an important accomplishment as it furthers, in legal form, SCO members' desire for eternal peace and friendship through the generations.

 

Doubtless, the treaty facilitates unity and mutual trust among SCO member states. Unity is a prerequisite to deepening cooperation among members and mutual trust guarantees success of the cooperation. In this sense, the treaty will power the SCO members' cooperation in the areas of security, economics and culture.

 

The SCO has been faring well over the past six years since it was founded in 2001. It is attracting more attention from countries around the world. So what is the reason for its rapid development and success?

 

It is the SCO's implementation of "the Shanghai Spirit，" which involves the principles of mutual trust, benefits, equality, consultation, respecting each other's cultures and seeking common development.

 

The treaty puts "the Shanghai Spirit" on a legal footing which helps maintain stability and harmony in the Central Asian region, and contributes to peace in Asia and the world at large.

 

The SCO was founded in the post-cold war era when the world at large and Central Asia were undergoing profound and dramatic changes. Its founding was prompted by an urgent need to cope with the threat posed by terrorism, separatism and extremism in areas wedged between Asia and Europe.

 

The member states rely on their collective strength in safeguarding regional security in an effort to create a good climate for their own economic progress. The SCO members have since built a model for international relations marked by the principles of "non-alignment, non-confrontation, not targeting third parties and sticking to opening up to the outside world".

 

In the security arena, the SCO has a host of cooperative documents on fighting terrorism, separatism, extremism and drug trafficking. The organization has also staged a number of counter-terrorism exercises. The just-concluded joint military exercise in Russia's Cheliyabinsk, like its predecessors, will serve to hold terrorist, separatist and extremist elements in check.

 

Besides, the SCO has a strong appeal because it advocates a new type of security outlook based on the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation and not targeting third parties.

 

The SCO has accepted Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India as observer countries and has established liaison with the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The SCO has become a regional one, with big influence and appeal.

 

The SCO member states are doing their best to promote regional economic development and achieve common prosperity. The economic pursuit provides the driving force for the sustainable development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

 

The SCO members have charted the basic goals of regional economic cooperation, set in motion a trade-and-investment facilitating process, and signed a multilateral economic cooperation program which involves 130 projects of cooperation in the fields of transportation, energy, information technology and agriculture. A number of working groups have also been set up for the implementation of these projects.

 

Collaboration between business people and the banking industry is also on track. Economic cooperation as a whole is picking up speed.

 

The territories of SCO members are vast and are complementary to each other in natural resources, labor, and market structures. The complementary nature of the economies is the very foundation on which mutually benefiting cooperation is conducted.

 

However, it should be noted that customs, judicial systems, economic strengths and levels of development vary significantly from one SCO member to another. This seemingly presents a problem for multilateral economic cooperation.

 

The SCO members have full confidence in overcoming this problem. The cooperative documents signed at the Bishkek summit involving cooperation in the fields of transportation and others are testament to the SCO members' commitment to deepening economic and trade cooperation.

 

The accomplishments achieved at the Bishkek summit will inject new vitality into cooperation among the SCO members.

 

The author is a researcher with China Institute of International Studies

 

(China Daily August 20, 2007)