Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev travelled to Ufa, Russia July 9-10 to take part in the fifteenth summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the seventh summit of BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The gathering was attended by the leaders of the SCO member states (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), observer states (Mongolia, India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan) as well as Belarus as a partner for dialogue and Turkmenistan as a guest state. Representatives of the United Nations (UN), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also took part.
During the summit, the participants exchanged views on topical issues of international and regional security and reviewed priorities and ways of further SCO activities in the political and economic fields, in addition to issues connected with expansion of cooperation with observers and dialogue partners.
Kazakhstan supports India’s and Pakistan’s decision of accession to the SCO, Nazarbayev said at the SCO enlarged meeting.
“Since the first days of its operation, the SCO has positioned itself as a balanced and multilateral structure. In this regard, we support the intention of India and Pakistan to join the organisation. This will be very beneficial for the organisation,” he added.
Nazarbayev stressed that the signing of the SCO strategy until 2025 is a clear indication of the organisation’s progress.
“The document is intended to become the basis of the Shanghai process in the next ten years. In light of the latest world events and processes, the SCO must remain the guarantor of stability, security and prosperity in the region,” he said.
Nazarbayev also noted that the growing number of victims of terrorism demonstrates a real threat for prosperity, regional peace and security.
“The SCO must contribute to the dialogue between the international community members who are ready to fight against violent extremism. It would be correct to put this issue on the agenda of the UN Assembly in order to create a unified global network to combat terrorism. I hope that the adoption of the SCO programme on combating terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as the convention on the fight against terrorism, will become a starting point of our common matter,” said the Kazakh President.
Nazarbayev suggested boosting the process of integration of the SCO space into the international transport and logistics system in order to discover the economic potential of the organisation’s member states.
In his words, the implementation of Nurly Zhol, the new Kazakh economic programme, and the Chinese initiative Silk Road Economic Belt, as well as favourable conditions created in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), fully coincide with the goals of the SCO.
The Ufa SCO declaration, in addition to a number of other documents aimed at strengthening international cooperation in various fields, was signed following the meeting.
The day before the session, Nazarbayev participated as a guest at the BRICS summit. He stressed that the impact of the global crisis and increase of the key issues of economic development make interstate dialogue particularly important and demanded.
“The unique formula of the Eurasian Economic Union, SCO and BRICS serves as a symbol of unity and solidarity of the largest part of the world population in the way of cooperation for the sake of security and prosperity. I am confident that the complementary potential and capabilities of the three international platforms can play a positive role in resolving global issues,” he said.
A close dialogue between the EAEU and SCO creates favourable conditions for the beginning of wide transcontinental cooperation. The connection of the EAEU-SCO horizontal transport artery and BRICS vertical transport artery can provide explosive trade growth, Nazarbayev added.
During the visit to Ufa, the Kazakh President was awarded by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Alexander Nevsky for his contribution to the development of multifaceted Kazakh-Russian cooperation, as well as his active contribution to the promotion of bilateral collaboration in the integration processes.
Nazarbayev also held a number of bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Afghanistan (Ashraf Ghani), China (Xi Jinping), Uzbekistan (Islam Karimov), the Republic of South Africa (Jacob Zuma), Brazil (Dilma Rousseff) and Mongolia (Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj).
According to its official web site, SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka have the status of partners in dialogue. The SCO member states cover an area of more than 30 million square kilometres, or about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion, about a quarter of the world’s total. Its working languages are Chinese and Russian.
The SCO summit is the highest decision-making body of the organisation. It meets once a year to make determinations and give instructions on all important issues of SCO activity.
