News & Events in Belarus

Lukashenko believes SCO should address global issues. What role will Belarus play in this

In December 2005, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko paid a state visit to China.In Beijing, journalists asked the head of state whether Belarus would develop cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Even then, just a few years after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was set up, President Aleksandr Lukashenko saw this organization as having a great future. Belarus decided to seize its chance and join the organization. Was this decision right? For comparison. Around the same time, they set up the so-called Commonwealth of Democratic Choice, an organization of Eastern European and Baltic countries, which tried to become an alternative to the CIS. Their main job was to organize "peaceful revolutions”. Have you heard anything about such a union? After gathering a couple of times, taking photo-ops and making hot air speeches, the countries went their separate ways.

But what about the SCO? In this episode, we will tell you how territorial disputes have been dropped in favor of the spirit of trust, reduced military presence and long-term good neighborliness. What prospects does the SCO membership open up for Belarus? What attracts Belarus to this organization?

SCO milestones

The prerequisites for the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization were laid back in the 1980s - with the beginning of negotiations to resolve the Soviet-Chinese split. However all the accumulated issues were removed after the collapse of the USSR. In 1996, in Shanghai, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China signed an agreement on military confidence-building measures. A year later, the countries agreed on mutual reduction of armed forces in the border areas.

The resolution of territorial disputes has become the basis for the further development of regional cooperation. This is a very important point: the SCO was formed on the basis of mutual understanding, equality and commitment to peaceful dialogue.

Over time, the “Shanghai Five” began to play an increasingly important role in maintaining security and stability in the region. In 2000, the heads of state decided that it was time for the “Shanghai Five” to become a regional organization of multilateral cooperation. In the same year, Uzbekistan joined the "five", and years later, at the summit in Shanghai, a historic decision was made to create the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The declaration reads that in the environment of dynamic development of processes of political multipolarity and economic and information globalization, upgrading the “Shanghai Five” mechanism to a higher level of cooperation will help in making more effective use of emerging possibilities and addressing new challenges and threats.

The document clearly states that the SCO is not an alliance directed against other states and regions. It declares its readiness to develop dialogue, contacts and cooperation of all kinds with other states and relevant international and regional organizations.

"The Chinese leadership supported us and invited us to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is a very dynamically developing Asian organization, a very influential center of power. It is very important for us to be part of this organization, even as an observer at this stage. Since this is a developing region, it will play the main role in the future, including in economy. By participating in this regional organization, we can receive substantial dividends in terms of domestic and foreign policy and also in economic terms,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said in 2006.

When Belarus joined the SCO

Belarus became involved in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2010. At first, in the capacity of a partner. In 2015, our country was granted an observer status. This decision can be considered unique: Belarus is not an Asian country and for the time being is the only European state that actively interacts with the SCO.

"We highly appreciate your trust and intend to actively participate in the work of the organization in all areas of mutual interest. The SCO plays an increasingly important role in resolving global and regional issues and is made up of sincere friends of Belarus. Being an observer state, we are not going, using the sports terminology, “to follow the game from the bench”. Belarus is ready to become an active "field player" and make a significant contribution to the organization for the benefit of our peoples,” the president said at the SCO summit in Tashkent in 2016.

What are the SCO’s advantages?

Today, the SCO includes 26 states. Nine of them are full members of the organization. It is expected that Belarus will be granted full membership at the summit in Astana on 4 July. But most countries have an observer or dialogue partner status.

Initially the SCO was about fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism in Central Asia. Then the organization developed to include the economic dimension covering energy, transport, agriculture and telecommunications and also the humanitarian dimension. SCO members actively cooperate in science, technology, culture, education and tourism.

"What is the SCO for us? This is a club of like-minded countries whose interests and values we share. This is not a club of self-centered countries seeking to impose their agenda on the world. Here we will not face diktat or harsh pressure that other organizations are known for,” said Belarusian First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lukashevich.

What can Belarus offer the SCO? Our transit potential is our calling card, Sergei Lukashevich noted.

“It is a transit hub ensuring smooth flow of goods and convenient logistics. We can offer our peace-making expertise and experience. Our human potential and well-developed agriculture might also be useful for our partners. We are making a small but very important contribution to the formation of a new world order. This may sound pretentious. But this is the role that Belarus plays today and will continue to play."

To have an idea of the prospects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, it is enough to look at the space that the SCO members occupy on the world map. Given such a scale, as Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, you do not need to be a military bloc like NATO in order to deter any aggression.

Today, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an influential international organization with a population of almost 3.5 billion. This is actually half of the world's population. The SCO occupies a territory of 35 million square kilometers, which is 65% of Eurasia. The GDP of the SCO countries is $23 trillion, or a quarter of the world’s GDP.

According to the IMF data for 2023, three SCO countries are among the top 7 economies: Russia generates almost 3% of the global economic output, India -over 7.5% and China - almost 19%. These three SCO states alone account for about 30% of the world economy. One more interesting fact: Russia, China, India and Iran are members of the "Big Space Club", an informal association of states that have the ability to launch their own satellites using their own launch vehicle from their own cosmodromes.

Why is SCO membership important for Belarus?

On the other hand, power is not about scale. Look at the West and its recent actions. Most of the planet is tired of its hegemony. The SCO is, first of all, about an equal dialogue. It is not for nothing that its countries call themselves a family. Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that the place of Belarus is exactly there, next to the nations representing different cultures and committed to peace and development.

"The SCO philosophy was formulated, among others, by Belarus,” stressed Olga Lazorkina, an analyst at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research. “ We are not a newcomer. We had the status of a dialogue partner and were actively engaged in a variety of areas. For Belarus, it is important to join the alternative organizations that offer a vision of the future: a peaceful, stable development and equal conditions as much as possible. There is also a very important political dimension. The vision of the future also embraces politics of the future. This is about a new formula for international cooperation, which is now being worked out in the SCO and also in BRICS. It is important for us to get engaged in all alternative organizations so as not to become irrelevant and sorry for being late. We are working proactively.”

Belarus' move to join the "Shanghai family" was not spontaneous or accidental. At that time, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was still a fledgling organization looking for its place in the world. Today the SCO is viewed as the future. This is a very influential center of power. The Belarusian leadership had enough time to compare the goals and objectives of the SCO with the interests of the state, to assess the intensive and constructive nature of its work, and to measure up its own strength and capabilities.

SCO prospects

Taking into account the strategically important geographical location, Belarus is able to organically complement the organization. The country can offer its transit, industrial and scientific potential, and its experience in peacekeeping and multilateral diplomacy.

“I have been in politics for many years (probably longer than most of the attendees). I’ve watched the SCO grow, fight for regional leadership. A lot has happened recently and the world has changed drastically. The world as we knew it is no longer here. The progressive humanity (a term used in the past) has their eyes on our organization - the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Perhaps unexpectedly for some of us, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is turning from a regional organization into a global one,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the SCO summit in Samarkand in 2022.

He noted that the most important thing now is not to miss this moment. “It is important to offer an alternative to other countries (you talked about this, and rightly so as there are a lot of them). The SCO can become a truly global organization, and objectively so, and address big problems of the world order. It is important not to be late. It is important to seize this moment and make the most of it,” the Belarusian leader said.