SCO: A New Road Map

by Dr Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan

The most recently held 23rd Meeting of Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Member States responsible for Foreign Economic and Trade Activities in Islamabad yesterday vividly reflecting the golden principles of Shanghai Spirit comprising openness, inclusiveness, mutual trust, political cooperation and last but not least economic cooperation among the SCO member countries.

Going forward, all members’ countries should jointly persuade develop common strategies to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of looming threats of US FED constant tight monetary policies, ongoing trade war, technology sanctions, disruptions of trade in international waters, deflation, economic stagnation and last but not least, non-state actors mainly climate change, terrorism, human & drugs migration, labour and economic vulnerabilities in the region and beyond.

In this regard, the Chinese President Xi’s policies of openness, transparency, modernization, digitalization, artificial intelligence, qualitative industrialization and last but not least green transformation must be followed and implemented in order to make the SCO an economically vibrant, industrially diversified, technologically innovative, ecologically green and last but not least, financially integrated to set-up there on banking & financial system with their own currency and payment system to mitigate ongoing economic, financial sanctions and energy payments in which the role of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Iran would be game changer in the days to come.

The policy makers of SCO should also study the Ten Policies of Shavkat Mirziyoyev which may be a value addition in greater regional connectivity, socio-economic integration, banking & financial cooperation and last but not least, green transformation among the SCO countries. Moreover, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s socio-economic transformative and green technologies translating policies should also be studied and followed for enhancing the greater role of the SCO.

BRI, CPEC and Gwadar would be a new winning horse for easy and smooth promotion and development of regionalism, e-commerce, industrial productivity, economic integration, connectivity and trade boom breaking the geographic impediments of the SCO member countries of Central Asia into caravans of greater connectivity and integration in the days to come.

It is good omen that the SCO member states have decided to establish a Database of Economic Preferences (DEPs) for the SCO region, which will act as a comprehensive resource for the member states to access information on economic incentives and preferences within the bloc, fostering a more cohesive business environment.

While delivering a keynote speech in the opening session the Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, Jam Kamal Khan, reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the aims and objective of the SCO to promote peace and prosperity in the region. While acknowledging the global economic challenges facing the region, he emphasised the vital role of the SCO in addressing these issues through cooperation and constructive engagement.

He conveyed Pakistan’s strong commitment and readiness to contribute to and collaborate with all Member States to achieve shared goals.

Additionally, the inauguration of the Business and Investment Conference in Islamabad witnessed participation from senior ministers, senior government officials, foreign diplomats, representatives from SCO member states, and leaders from Pakistan’s business community, underscoring Pakistan’s commitment to enhancing trade and economic cooperation within the region.

According to various official data, over the past 5 years, mutual trade between the SCO countries increased 1.5-fold from US$336 billion in 2019 to US$490 billion in 2023.The main trading partners in the region are China with 64.6 percent of all mutual trade and Russia with 26.2 percent. Kazakhstan's share is 3.3 percent.

It is good omen that the SCO has successfully emerged as a driving force in shaping regional stability and global cooperation, with China playing a central role in fostering its development and goals. The SCO's evolution underscores a commitment to enhancing peace, security and mutual prosperity among its member states and beyond.

China, as the second-largest economy in the world and a staunch advocate for multilateralism, has played a leading role in shaping the SCO's economic agenda and fostering befitting and win-win cooperation among member states. China's vision emphasizes mutual respect, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation for its further economic strengthening, geographic integration, industrial productivity moving from geopolitics to grand geo-economics through prioritizing collective prosperity over individual gain.

In summary, the golden principles of Shanghai Spirit comprising openness, inclusiveness, mutual trust, political cooperation and last but not least economic cooperation among the SCO member countries should be the way forward.

Persuasion of common strategies is a must to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of looming threats of climate change, terrorism and national capacity building hurdles in some of the member countries.

It is suggested that the SCO states should jointly work to form a development, FDI, vaccine, SMEs and industrial SCO Bank catering the requirements of the community based socio-economic development. It is pertinent to mention that forming of the Green SCO Bank would be a giant step towards the green transformation in the family. Moreover, SCO Common Energy & Food Market and SCO Common Stock & Commodity Exchanges, SCO Digitized Bank, SCO Metal & Mining Bank, SCO Lithium Battery Bank and the last but not the least, SCO AI Bank would further expedite notions of regionalism and economic integration.

Pooling of resources to build various ports, integrated railways systems and gearing of pending trans-regional mega projects of the connectivity especially, Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan trilateral rail project, TAPI, promotion of cluster & container trading patterns between Pakistan and Central Asian countries and last but not the least Pakistan’s Wahkhan Corridor with Tajikistan would further strengthen the SCO connectivity, economic and trading potential in the days to come.

Furthermore, SCO member states hold one-tenth of the world's oil reserves, a quarter of natural gas reserves and 40 percent of coal reserves. In 2022, SCO countries accounted for 42 percent of the world's cereals production, and 31 percent of meat production. It has a considerable share of global food exports, taking up nearly half of world rice exports and 22 percent of wheat exports. Thus formation of a SCO Agriculture Bank would be an innovative idea creating immense win-win cooperation.

Deepening cooperation in areas such as cybersecurity, public health sustainable development, disaster management, space & science, AI, digitalization, and green technologies may be useful for the SCO.

Last but not least, the SCO should not be a debating club of mere innovative ideas and media of high philosophies and policies but must be a regulating body for greater socio-economic integration, trade & commerce cooperation and operationalization and channelization of its RATS neutralizing all the emerging security threats within the SCO.

Author is President of Pak-China Corridor of Knowledge, and the Executive Director of The Center of South Asia & International Studies (CSAIS)