The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has emerged as one of Eurasia’s key hubs, attracting interest from countries in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and even North Africa, SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev said in an interview with TASS.
"The SCO has become a major center of attraction in Eurasia, including for nations in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and even North Africa. The global crises we are witnessing have only increased our partners’ interest in working together within the SCO framework in one way or another," he stated.
According to Yermekbayev, the organization’s activities and principles are in high demand. "Today, the SCO covers approximately a quarter of the world's landmass, its member states account for nearly half of the global population (43.17%), and their combined GDP exceeds 28% of the world’s total," he noted.
Yermekbayev highlighted the appeal of the "Shanghai Spirit" principles—mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity, and the pursuit of shared development. He emphasized that SCO member states "do not operate within a confrontational framework, nor do they impose their standards and models on others that may be foreign to a particular country’s cultural and civilizational traditions."
Currently, the SCO consists of 10 member states: Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Additionally, two countries hold observer status (Afghanistan and Mongolia), while 14 nations are dialogue partners, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.
Following the summit in Astana last July, China assumed the SCO’s rotating chairmanship for the 2024–2025 period and is set to host the next SCO summit in 2025.
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Photo: sco-russia2020.ru/Creative Commons 4.0
Based on TASS materials