SCO Summit – A Good Omen for the World?

The 2024 SCO Summit is being held in Islamabad from 15 to 16 October 2024, for which elaborate security and administra­tive arrangements have been made by the government of Pakistan. Many world leaders are expected to attend the summit during which In­dian Minister for External Affairs Mr Jaishankar will represent his Prime Minister. The invitation was extend­ed to Mr Modi, yet participation of his Minister for External Affairs is also being considered as a welcom­ing gesture, though no headway is expected on bilateral account.

The vibrant SCO is the largest regional conglomerate which has the potential to be the most effec­tive one also. It is relatively younger than other regional cooperation organisations but given the cumula­tive economic potential and human resource count this is considered to be the most effective platform. It has ten member countries, two observer countries and fourteen dialogue partners. The SCO’s main goals include strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states through effective co­operation in politics, trade, economy, research, technology, culture, educa­tion, energy, transport, tourism, envi­ronmental protection, and defence. 

With the aforementioned vast agenda, SCO bodes well to tackle variety of issues that the region is marred with and despite having po­tential to negotiate challenges in the region, it is struggling to overcome them. SCO countries form around 32% of total GDP of the world (as per PPP) and 40% of the world’s popula­tion. This huge capability is reflective of the role SCO can play in world’s politics. For instance, during the forthcoming summit in Islamabad talks on Russia-Ukraine war and Gaza conflict will also resonate. SCO is expected to make a firm statement for the atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon. Also, this is the platform from where double standards of the West must be high­lighted when Russia-Ukraine war and Gaza conflict are compared. 

Climate change is the biggest threat to the humanity at this point in time. With the changing pattern in weather, countries like Pakistan are experiencing difficulties. The season for different crops is shifting and with scarce fiscal capacity, it is cum­bersome to adjust to such changes. Joint mechanism to mitigate the ef­fects of climate change especially for the most affected countries like Pakistan must be vitalised and put to real work. Likewise, terrorism is a common threat to all the coun­tries of SCO. There is a consensus all across the SCO members to counter this menace through collaborative efforts. Pakistan has recently seen a surge in terrorism activities and can make use of this platform to high­light its concerns about the support to the terrorists by some countries whether in terms of providing safe heavens or monetary assistance.

Another significant challenge that the SCO countries are facing is in the form of fake news being spread, be it against BRI, CPEC or Islamopho­bia. Extensive media collaboration between the SCO countries can help address this issue to a great extent. In this manner, the population in these countries can at least be on the right side of information and may not fall prey to the perpetrators. Trade is one big factor that can generate great rev­enues for the SCO countries. The SCO states are rich in hydrocarbons, min­erals, commodities, agriculture as well as industrial strength. There is good air, land and maritime connec­tivity that these states can leverage. Pakistan is at such an important loca­tion that can connect SCO countries in north-south and east-west direc­tions. The land and maritime connec­tivity that Pakistan already has with different regions of the world can be made use of to connect the land­locked member countries of SCO.

China has a vision for prosperity for Global South and SCO can actu­ally help achieve it. Besides the cor­ridors that BRI is offering to the re­gion, the International North South Trade Corridor (INSTC) can also be capitalised upon to further this objective. The regional countries can help each other in overcoming challenges such as food security, water scarcity, illiteracy and pov­erty. The extensive use of emerging technologies in Russia- Ukraine war and Gaza conflict has revolutionized warfare. It has brought focus of the world on virtual attacks at par with the physical ones. The SCO countries can lay special emphasis on this as­pect and cooperation can be forged in this field to save the region from such attacks by the adversaries. 

The vivid difference between the respective strategies of the US and China is multilateralism ver­sus minilateralism. While the US, through Indo-Pacific strategy is forming small groups of like-minded nations in various parts of both the oceans, per se “minilateralism,” Chi­na has always vowed to take along all towards the prosperous future, preferring multilateralism. SCO is a clear example of this approach whereby countries come together on a platform from where they ex­pect resolution of their issues and problems. The 2024 SCO Summit is also expected to bring some fruitful outcomes for the regional countries. This is the very reason, which ex­hibits its potential for effectiveness and many countries from different regions vie to become part of SCO. 

REEMA SHAUKAT

–The writer is Communication Strate­gist at the Institute of Regional Stud­ies, Islamabad and can be reached at reema.asim81@gmail.com