From Arctic to Indian Ocean: Global Transformations Boost SCO Growth
© Sputnik / Zafar Khalilov
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The number of applications for membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is growing, which makes it possible for the entity to expand its global outreach, said Alexander Knyazev, head of the regional branch of the Moscow-based CIS Institute think tank.
The global system of international relations has been undergoing transformation, opening the door to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) rise as a global actor, according to Alexander Knyazev.
On July 4, the Islamic Republic of Iran became a full-fledged SCO member. It is expected that Belarus will gain this status in 2024. Prior to Iran's accession, the organization consisted of eight permanent members, namely, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; and nine dialogue partners – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkiye, Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
According to Bakhtiyor Khakimov, special representative of the president of the Russian Federation for SCO affairs, the number of applications to join the SCO is growing.
"The objective conditions for turning [the SCO] into an effective organization, whose influence would go far beyond the territory of its member countries, currently exist," Knyazev told Sputnik. "Everything depends, first of all, on the political will of the leadership of these countries. (…) The number of participating countries and an even wider range of countries wishing to join, or having the status of an observer country, dialogue partner, simply striving to be involved in the SCO, all this quantitative content brings the organization closer to the need to determine its qualitative characteristics."
In this sense, Iran's admission has brought a new dimension to the organization given the Islamic Republic's role in the broad Eurasian region from the Middle East to the Pacific coast, as well as its strong positions in Africa and influence in a number of Latin American countries, according to Knyazev.
He highlighted that Iran's participation in the SCO could have a considerable impact on further processes within the entity. It could enrich the SCO's activities in terms of ensuring security in a wide region from the Indian Ocean to the Arctic, and from southeast Europe to Southeast Asia, as per the expert. He particularly referred to the Iranian, Russian and Chinese joint naval exercises in the Gulf of Oman and in the surrounding waters, which began in December 2019 and have already turned into a regular event.
"Iran is an interesting example of how a country, until recently qualified as a regional power, is moving steadily towards claiming the status of a great power," the scholar said. "Today, a huge number of international processes cannot undergo without Iran's participation, since either its direct influence on these processes or the potential for such influence are obvious. Iran plays an extremely important role in the processes taking place in the Middle East, the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean basin, less, but significantly - in the Mediterranean (...) Although the country suffers serious damage from Western sanctions, it has shown over years that it can be self-sufficient, and this self-sufficiency, in turn, provides an absolutely independent position in world politics."
The SCO is at a very important, but still transitory stage, of its development, when its significance can only be assessed hypothetically, according to Knyazev. Different countries still have different expectations from the SCO, which just emphasizes that full certainty has not yet been achieved, he believes.
"I think that the ongoing global transformation of the entire world system of international relations should become a catalyst for self determination of the SCO. And it cannot be ruled out that from some point, the SCO will be perceived not as a regional structure, but as a significant world actor," the scholar concluded.
