SCO and Pakistan

At a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif underlined the need to extract regional solutions to pressing problems as they threaten the collective peace of the SCO states. Giving that vision concrete shape, Islamabad’s stance at the forum makes for a remarkable fit when considering the overarching vision of the Samarkand Declaration. “They [member states] believe that consistent implementation of these principles contributes to a new model of regional cooperation that makes a constructive contribution to strengthening mutually beneficial multilateral relations in Eurasia,” read the Declaration. And in that same spirit of regional cooperation, a wall against climate change is both in the chief interests of the SCO and long overdue by the international community.

Pakistan’s emphasis on a one-of-a-kind ‘devastation’ within its borders – born out of a crisis not of its making – is an important impetus for a Pakistan-focused SCO climate action plan to come through. Member states already agree on the ominous impacts of climate change, including the challenge it poses to food security, and Pakistan’s perseverance in the face of massive starvation risks removes all doubt.

Countries within the SCO represent economies at different development stages that could use connectivity and crisis support in one country to set an example for economic recovery in many others. Climate change does not discriminate. Its implications transcend borders, and the SCO’s status as an integrative platform makes it an ideal force for developing working partnerships that can assess climate-induced needs in Pakistan, and by extension, the future needs of the region at large. One of the testaments to the SCO’s integrative status is its sustained support for one another’s legitimate ‘development interests’ – in accordance with key principles under the 2007 SCO Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

Islamabad’s time-tested partnership with China carries its own vital lessons for a shared and peaceful community. It was only recently that the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a vital point by supporting the cause of solidarity that benefits both current and future SCO member states. Now that very SCO grouping stands expanded, consolidated and ever-prepared to globalise its network of engagements because there has never been any political baggage to factor, unlike select Western blocs that filter strategic engagements along ideological lines. In other words, once mutual trust – grounded in the principles of the SCO charter – allows states to converge on core interests and major concerns, it cultivates a stronger front to back each other’s legitimate interests and come up with mutually acceptable solutions to key regional issues.

Pakistan’s vocal support for ‘a win-win outcome’ for all SCO member states through connectivity plans is a timely one. Its direct regional vigilance towards the absence of such connectivity in a region that is rich in trade potential, geostrategic significance, and neighbourly relations. The SCO has also seen past references to the menace of terrorism which continues to serve as an evolving threat to regional peace. Pakistan’s decades-old determination to stamp out terror in all its forms is unlike any other, with lessons to be learnt on a regional scale for the benefit of all. It is here that the SCO’s call to ‘strengthen global cooperation in countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations’ offers a path ahead for some countries reluctant to change course on a bilateral level. More deeply, the SCO platform can benefit from a mechanism of responding to security threats, as this has been proposed in the past and enjoys enormous potential to scale cooperation in ‘non-traditional’ security spheres.

Pakistan enjoys warm and friendly ties with the Central Asian states, and remains open to exploring productive trade and connectivity opportunities that identify closely with the SCO’s own vision of healthy ‘trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian relations’ among countries. The Samarkand Declaration is a unique reminder that credible adherence to multilateralism requires joint action as well. States acknowledge the increasingly complex global challenges concerning all.

Such a balanced perspective also situates the SCO in a different regional cooperation league, away from toxic narratives of voluntary exclusion that have been echoed by closed groupings under the garb of ‘likeminded democracies.’ The advancement of Iran as a full member state within the SCO sends a fitting message that the future of ‘regional connectivity’ lies in prioritising its core: the ‘region.’ Connectivity along preferential lines has proven counterproductive, as history has reminded time and again. This is why Pakistan’s openness to leveraging geographical, economic, historical and cultural advantages of the region to each other’s benefit is one that the SCO is itself promoting. It is a welcome sign to witness anticipation build around Turkey’s future inclusion. Ankara is undoubtedly an enduring Pakistani ally, a firm supporter of global linkages, and has put its definition of development into action by backing engagements from West to Asia.

“The Member States highly appreciate the contribution of public diplomacy institutions and cultural centres in the SCO Member States in building mutual trust, strengthening mutual understanding and expanding cultural and humanitarian ties within the Organisation,” read the Declaration.

That call for strengthened diplomacy will be heard loud and clear.

The writer is a foreign affairs commentator and recipient of the Fulbright Award