SCO creates a dialogue-partner status

The summit communiqué recorded that member-state leaders accepted an invitation to observe the active phase of a joint counterterrorism exercise in Russia on 17 August. The exercise displayed military...

The six member states conducted a joint counterterrorism military exercise in Russia. The drill showed the practical security cooperation associated with the SCO, while the scope and public framing of...

At the Dushanbe summit, leaders set out positions on regional and global affairs. They supported peaceful settlement of conflicts and discussed the August 2008 war in Georgia. Their statement should...

The Dushanbe Declaration welcomed the six principles agreed in Moscow on 12 August 2008 and recognized Russia’s role in promoting peace and cooperation. This language revealed the SCO’s preference for...

The declaration referred to international standards for protecting human rights and civil liberties, including minority rights, alongside national law. This formal commitment offers a benchmark for...

The member governments signed an agreement on cooperation against illicit trafficking in arms, ammunition and explosives. It expanded security coordination to transnational weapons flows, while...

In Astana, prime ministers approved a plan to implement the SCO’s trade and economic cooperation programme. The plan aimed to translate long-term goals into practical cooperation; adopting it did...

The SCO hosted a special conference on Afghanistan with regional and international participation. The declaration treated Afghanistan’s stability as inseparable from regional security and development,...

Participants linked security to reconstruction and economic development and called for coordinated efforts against terrorism and narcotics trafficking. This recognized that military measures alone...

At the 2009 summit, member states called for dialogue and a more equitable and rational architecture of interstate relations. Their position challenged concentration of global decision-making power,...