SCO Summit Concludes Work in Uzbekistan, Foreshadowing Irreversible Changes in World’s Architecture

Leaders of Russia, China, India, and other Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states attended high-level meetings in Uzbekistan’s historic city of Samarkand, focusing on regional and global stability, security, and economy.

In the run-up to the main event, Uzbekistan, which held the SCO chairmanship this year, has hosted a total of more than 80 SCO-related events, with more than 40 documents being signed, including the leaders’ summit declaration.

It’s likely that members of foreign delegations, who were taken on sightseeing and gastronomic tours of the city during their two-day stay in Samarkand, as well as 600 foreign journalists will remember the city for its remarkable hospitality and unique historic landmarks.

Security, Iran’s Nuclear Program, Ties with Kabul, and Reform of WTO

The SCO’s growth is probably one of the key features of this year’s summit. A memorandum on Iran joining the organization as full-time member has been adopted, with Minsk starting its accession as well. The organization also accepted Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar as dialogue partners, with an agreement being reached on the Maldives, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, and Myanmar becoming new dialogue partners.

Besides that, there was a number of important statements coming from SCO leaders on the second day of their work in Samarkand.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that it’s necessary to prevent attempts by external forces to organize "color revolutions" in SCO countries, while Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed at the fundamental transformations which have taken place in world politics and the economy, calling them "irreversible." Being part of the SCO founders’ pool, Russia and China communicated very actively in Samarkand, with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping meeting one-on-one as well as in trilateral format with Mongolian leader Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh.

The summit’s final declaration focused on members’ confirmation that the organization is not directed against other countries, with SCO nations agreeing not to interfere in the internal affairs of states. When it comes to economy, the SCO called for a more effective WTO. There were also several important security-related issues in the declaration, such as the need to implement a plan on Iran’s nuclear program, a call to create an inclusive government in Afghanistan, and an affirmation of the need to observe the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Uzbek Hospitality: Sightseeing, Culinary Delights & Cultural Program

For many centuries, Samarkand was the center of the Silk Road, with major trade routes passing through the city, which eventually contributed to its rich history and diverse culture. The city has been preparing very thoroughly for the 2022 SCO summit, with new roads, hotels, and restaurants being built.

The Samarkand City Touristic Center, which hosted the leaders’ gathering, has eight hotels, a congress center, a rowing channel, and a fishing pond, as well as the Eternal City complex, where architects have re-created buildings typical for the country’s key landmarks in Bukhara, Khiva, Tashkent, and Jizzakh. As per the organizers, the project’s cost is $580 million.

“Samarkand itself is as ancient as Rome, it’s 2,700 years old, and this pearl of our complex – the Eternal City is the tribute to Samarkand’s and its history,” said Dinara Akhmetova, who is the cluster PR and marketing director of the Silk Road Samarkand complex. “There were corn fields here before, with canals in between. Now we have a city here, and the main difficulty, initially, was to imagine how this territory could fit eight hotels and a congress center. It took us three years to build all that.”

The SCO leaders spent Thursday evening at the Eternal City having dinner, and later planted trees on the premises of the Congress Center. First ladies from some countries also had a chance to visit the venue on Friday during a private tour.

The media was treated as welcome guests as well, with journalists receiving full access to city landmarks and having a taste of Uzbek culinary delights for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the press center, not to mention daily banquets with live music in the city.

Tashkent's SCO Input and Proposals

It appears, that besides being successful in organizing a productive summit, Uzbekistan’s officials also managed to draw the organization’s attention to an issue that is of particular importance for Tashkent itself, namely the need for Afghanistan to be accepted by the SCO family, with the topic being mentioned in the final declaration of the summit. Uzbekistan’s leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev also pointed at the need to lay out a long-term plan for the SCO’s development.

“The President of Uzbekistan [Shavkat] Mirziyoyev actually mentioned that we need to develop the strategy for the SCO’s future to 2040,” said Marat Aitov, who is the head of the department of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. “It means that the SCO is a long-time project, a long-time regional organization turning into an international organization, and its attractiveness, its influence is increasing.”

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in 2001 in Beijing by China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, focusing on political, economic, and security cooperation. India and Pakistan joined the organization in 2017, with Tehran becoming the newest full-time member this year.

With Uzbekistan concluding its chairmanship, India will be at the helm of the organization in 2023.