Organizzazione di Shanghai per la Cooperazione

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 

Translated by Giulia Maffeis

On the 3rd and 4th of July, the annual summit of the heads of state of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Far from the West, crucial issues that characterise the new world order were discussed: an increasingly "multipolar" order ignited by armed conflicts—from Palestine to Ukraine—that have arisen or reignited over the past 24 months. In Astana, a further expansion was also decided: Belarus, under Aleksandr Lukashenko, was declared a full member.

Since its founding in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO has changed from a regional intergovernmental organization with six initial members -  China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—into an international bloc, an alternative to the Western one, now concerning twenty-six countries. Starting in 2017, it has embarked on an increasingly rapid differentiated expansion at multiple levels, gaining ten "full members," as well as Afghanistan and Mongolia as "observer members" without voting rights, and another 14 states from Asia to the Middle East (including Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar) as "dialogue partners,", countries affiliated with the Organization. (These three classifications should be considered in progressively hierarchical terms).

Today, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is the world's largest regional organization, both from a geographic and demographic perspective: it brings together the leaders of countries that collectively represent 80% of Eurasia's territory, 40% of the global population, and nearly 30% of global GDP. This is the result of over two decades of Eurasian strategy and

Belarus, the first European Country 

After opening to Iran in 2017— reducing the country's international isolation following U.S. sanctions—it's now Belarus's turn to officially join the Shanghai Organisation circuit. At the twenty-fourth edition of the annual summit, we're witnessing—despite the near-total disinterest of Western media and analysts—the expansion of the Shanghai Organisation into the European continent. Minsk is the first, and so far only, European country to fully join the SCO.

After all, after Belarus's break with the West due to Lukashenko's support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation represents the only platform for international cooperation for Minsk outside the ex-Soviet space. In particular, after the sanctions imposed by the European Union in 2022, the SCO remains a strategic way for Belarus to keep its economic resources and tighten further bilateral relations with other member states.

Besides, Moscow is maintaining a positive attitude towards Minsk's entrance into the SCO. The growth of an international organization like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, in which Russia continues to play a primary role even in the current international context, demonstrates that the Kremlin is far from a marginal player on the global geopolitical chessboard: despite sanctions imposed on Moscow by the majority of the Western world, Vladimir Putin is far from isolated here.

Global future? 
From Central and South Asia and reaching the Caucasus, the Middle East, and soon North Africa: this is the evolution of a regional bloc that becomes global. The expansion reflects the broadened scope of the SCO, an organization that's increasingly less tied to its original mandate on regional border security and more oriented towards a global dimension, including themes such as trade, cybersecurity, economic, and technological development. 

In addition to the leaders of Moscow and Beijing, this edition also hosted Turkish President Erdoğan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. It was absent, however, the recently re-elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, maybe attempting to balance India's relations with Russia and the West after attending the G7 in Puglia.

For Russia, the meeting in Astana represents a prestigious international stage, demonstrating Moscow's lack of isolation. It allows Beijing to project its large-scale influence over Central Asia and the Global South, elevating China as an alternative to the United States and its allies.

Established ten years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation invited Russia and China to find dialogue and coordination, especially to avoid conflicts and issues related to neighbourhood policies. Over the years, it has developed a varied portfolio of activities related to various political and economic areas of cooperation between Central Asian countries and other member states. Now the Shanghai Organisation is continuously projecting itself as a global geopolitical bloc alternative to Western decision making forums, although with internal divisions (such as between India and Pakistan) and an expanding membership that does not correspond to a strengthening of cooperation.

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