| The Iranian President conveyed a message to the West through Vladimir Putin The Chinese promised that there would be no unpleasant surprises at their summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and that the Iranian President's speech would not overshadow the solemn atmosphere of the organization's fifth anniversary. They kept their word, although the presence of an intemperate Iranian president at the summit cast doubt on this. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received the honorable right to speak first among the presidents of observer countries and exceeded the five-minute limit allotted to him by only two minutes. According to Vremya Novostey, he was simply not given more time to speak.
The guest from Tehran showed respect not only for the requirements of the protocol, but did not even insist on Iran’s immediate entry into the ranks of the “Shanghaiites,” which many feared. Mr. Ahmadinejad only allowed to express the hope that, having acquired great influence in the international community, the SCO will be able to become “an obstacle to world hegemony and foreign forceful intervention in the region.” Nothing more, no mention of the “big Satan,” as the United States is commonly called in Iran. And nothing bad about Israel. But Ahmadinejad formulated a program of cooperation between Iran and the SCO. The main one was the proposal to hold a conference of SCO energy ministers in Iran to discuss cooperation in the exploration, production and transportation of energy resources in the region. It is significant that this initiative was voiced in China, which is one of the main consumers of Iranian oil. So it is unlikely to go unnoticed.
Yesterday, Mr. Ahmadinejad met for half an hour with Vladimir Putin, thanking Russia for the position taken in resolving the situation around the Iranian nuclear file. “Our positions are clear and close to each other,” he noted.
“As for nuclear issues, you know our position well - we are probably the only country that actively and openly cooperates with Iran in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy and fully fulfills its obligations,” Putin told Ahmadinejad. The problem, however, is that the West views the Iranian “peaceful atom” with great suspicion. And Russia cannot ignore this concern. The Russian president said that Iran, like any other country, “has the right to implement its plans in the field of using high technologies for the benefit of its development.” However, at the same time, Vladimir Putin noted, Iran needs to “completely eliminate any concerns of the world community” regarding the non-proliferation of atomic weapons.
Following the meeting, the Russian president highlighted three encouraging points related to Ahmadinejad’s reaction to the proposals of the international “six” (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue: “The first is that the Iranian side responded positively to the proposals made by the six countries' proposals for overcoming the crisis. Secondly, the Iranian partners are ready to begin negotiations. Third, in the very near future the Iranian side will formulate its position on the timing of the start of these negotiations.”
These words aroused interest in Washington . White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "In our view, being willing to negotiate means accepting the initial condition of suspending uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities." However, Tehran has repeatedly stated that it will never, under any pretext, refuse to work with uranium, especially under US pressure. After all, tensions between Iran and the West have not disappeared. Russian journalists later asked Vladimir Putin whether Mr Ahmadinejad's new promises could be trusted. The Russian President responded by saying that the decision to make these promises public was agreed upon with the Iranian President: “I didn’t just voice what we discussed for the press - we agreed with him. This is their position, it was stated, but time will tell how it will actually turn out." However, the mere fact that the Iranian president avoided sharp attacks at the SCO summit speaks not only of his respect for his neighbors in the region, but also of cautious hope on reconciliation with the West, Ahmadinejad limited himself to only weak hints about certain “threats” to the region emanating “from outside the Persian Gulf countries.” The speech made by the President of Uzbekistan at the summit, Islam Karimov, was also full of hints. complained about the ineffectiveness of the international coalition, which is unable to cope with this problem. And then Karimov complained about “a number of states that want to reshape the situation in the region to their interests” and, moreover, from “the same interests determine democratic or non-democratic countries in this region. with all the ensuing consequences.” At the same time, the Uzbek leader hinted at “some countries” whose territory is used as transit by terrorists. On the sidelines of the summit, a Vremya Novostei correspondent asked one of the members of the Tajik delegation whether Karimov was referring to his country? “Yes, I didn’t understand it myself, maybe he was talking about Kyrgyzstan...”, the interlocutor answered.
The theme of “extra-regional forces”, “destructive forces”, “forces of evil” operating in the Central Asian region was heard in almost all speeches at the summit. It found its place, albeit in a more diplomatic formulation, in the final “Declaration of the SCO’s fifth anniversary.” “The determination of specific forms and mechanisms of regional security is the prerogative and responsibility of the states located in a given region,” the document says. At the same time, it states “the principles of not being directed against anyone and not forming alliances...”. These strings of “not...” are obviously intended to relieve the West’s concerns about the prospects for the formation in the East of a certain “anti-NATO” bloc led by Russia and China with a serious military component. So far, the SCO is not talking about such plans, at least publicly. Unless, of course, we count the intention to strengthen structures designed to combat the “three scourges” that threaten the region - religious extremism, national separatism and international terrorism. For example, the already created Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) with headquarters in Tashkent. The Uzbek side managed to block the rotation appointment of the current Secretary of the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan, Miroslav Niyazov, to the post of head of the RATS (now held by the Uzbek General Kasymov). Vremya Novostey's sources in the SCO secretariat claim that Tashkent did not like one of the interviews given by the Kyrgyz general. Now one of the former defense ministers of Kazakhstan is being considered as a likely candidate for this position. Now, at least until his appointment, he will apparently have to refrain from public speeches... In the “Declaration of the SCO's 5th Anniversary” it is worth paying attention to a number of other formulations. It is stated that the SCO countries “will not participate in alliances and associations that could harm the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of member states.” “They will not allow their territory to be used to harm the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of other member states and will suppress the activities on their territories of organizations or groups that harm the interests of member states.” The Declaration also promised to “start agreeing on the issue of concluding a multilateral legal document within the SCO on long-term good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation.” According to Vremya Novostey, the initiator of this proposal is Beijing. If we take into account the above hints made in Shanghai by Islam Karimov, such a legal document will be welcomed in Tashkent. But no one will dare to say now how Uzbekistan will regard, say, an American military base in Kyrgyzstan in the context of this document. Observers believe that this future document is intended to forestall the implementation of Washington’s plan to create an organization under the code name “Greater Central Asia,” which would unite most of the states in the region under American patronage, excluding the participation of China and Russia. This plan was first discussed after the recent tour of the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. One can assume another concern, primarily from Beijing, about Tokyo’s idea of creating a “Japan plus Central Asia” structure, which was discussed a couple of weeks ago in the Japanese capital with the participation of the foreign ministers of the four Central Asian CIS countries (excluding Turkmenistan). Russia is clearly not happy with these plans. Yesterday, Vladimir Putin clearly stated that Moscow opposes the creation of other organizations with duplicating functions in the SCO space. “We have accumulated sufficient experience in independent, open and constructive interaction. Therefore, we are against unnecessary competition, against the creation of any “closed clubs,” barriers and dividing lines in the region.” Moreover, the SCO members count on a great future for this organization. This was obvious from the way the Shanghai summit was organized. Well, for example, it would seem that it would be easier to give the six presidents of the SCO member countries a shovel each on the eve of their summit and send them to plant a tree. Well, how many of these “presidential” or “general secretary” trees have been planted and forgotten in our open spaces?... In China, everything has a deep meaning. They planted a magnolia, the flower of which is the symbol of Shanghai. And this tree itself can live for a thousand years, here is another symbol for you - almost the eternity of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Yesterday this forecast was confirmed by SCO Executive Secretary Zhao Deguyang, who promised that the SCO will not only have its 5th anniversary, as it does now, but its 50th and 100th anniversary. If the Chinese gave their name to the organization, then it should live for centuries!
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Vnesheconombank (VEB) and the State Development Bank of China (SDB) entered into an agreement on joint financing of projects with a credit limit of $500 million. On behalf of VEB, the document was signed by Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev, on the part of DBK - by President Chen Yuan. The agreement provides for various forms of financing joint projects, in particular, syndicated lending and co-financing, as well as guarantee transactions and settlements in documentary form. The parties intend to organize financing of projects in the field of supporting industrial exports, investment programs in the energy, glass, wood and paper industries, and agriculture. Funding for investment projects in Russian regions and SCO member countries is also provided. Detailed terms of project financing will be agreed upon under separate loan agreements. The agreement will make it possible to fully use the accumulated experience of both banks in the implementation of large investment projects, VEB noted in a press release. In 2005, they already signed two loan agreements for a total amount of $512 million. The funds were used to finance the supply of machinery and equipment from Russia to China. Arkady DUBNOV, Shanghai, Ivan SOLOVIEV |
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