SCO to chart course for a shared future

Addressing security challenges more effectively and enhancing financial mechanisms will be on the agenda at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2025, as SCO countries seek to strengthen unity, shore up multilateralism and better speak for the Global South nations, observers said.

The summit, which is scheduled for Sunday and Monday in the port city of Tianjin, will bring together President Xi Jinping with more than 20 foreign leaders and 10 heads of international organizations.

Xi will chair the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO and the "SCO Plus" Meeting and deliver keynote speeches.

The event marks the fifth time China has hosted an SCO summit and it will be the largest gathering since the organization's founding.

In a signed article published in People's Daily on Saturday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the SCO "has held 110 important events" since China took over the rotating presidency in July last year.

China seeks to enhance collaboration to build upon the Shanghai Spirit, bolster security, catalyze growth, practice multilateralism and strengthen the development of the SCO, Wang noted. He said that the country is confident that the upcoming summit will be "a great event of friendship, solidarity and fruitful outcomes".

Through the summit, Beijing aims to help the SCO "enter a new stage of high-quality development characterized by greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productivity, and to make a greater contribution to building a community with a shared future for humanity", said Wang.

Since its inception in Shanghai 24 years ago, the SCO has grown from its six founding members into a 26-nation family spanning Asia, Europe and Africa — comprising 10 member states, two observer states and 14 dialogue partners. It is now the world's largest regional international organization in terms of both geographical area and population.

Yasiru Ranaraja, founding director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, said that the SCO has become a platform for Global South countries to work together.

"It is very important for the Global South nations to advance the SCO, actively participate in its affairs and further develop it into a more functional organization," Ranaraja said.

At the upcoming Tianjin Summit, leaders of the SCO member states will jointly sign and issue a declaration, approve a development strategy of the SCO for the next 10 years, issue statements marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II and the 80th founding anniversary of the United Nations and adopt a series of outcome documents on strengthening security, economic, people-to-people and cultural cooperation.

Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in a written interview with Russia Today earlier this month that promoting the establishment of financing support mechanisms, such as the SCO Development Bank, will be among the agenda items.

Sun Zhuangzhi, director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that the SCO's areas of cooperation encompass several highly promising fields, including digitalization, the green economy and sectors driven by artificial intelligence.

"The organization successfully created a platform that engages more participants and market entities, enhances their interaction and taps into the strengths of the member states," Sun said.

"The SCO embodies the future trajectory of economic growth and technological innovation," he added.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn