Translated material
Limited contingent
Russia decided to use the SCO to solve the problems of Afghanistan
The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, held yesterday in Bishkek, was clearly a success. In the sense that there were no questions for him. And there was no press conference. There were only statements made by each of the six presidents of the SCO member states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Western fellow journalists accredited to the summit were surprised to find on the websites of Russian news agencies quotes from President Putin from what he allegedly said at the “final press conference” in Bishkek. In essence, Russia used the SCO summit to try to strengthen the military-political alliance, as well as initiate a peace conference on Afghanistan within the framework of this alliance. Fortunately, Afghan President Hamid Karzai attended the summit as an observer.These Western colleagues had to respond by reminding them of Rudyard Kipling, who was more understandable to them, with his famous “West is West, East is East, and they will never meet.” And the concept of a “press conference” in the East has long been different from that accepted in the West. By the way, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon said this best yesterday, speaking at an extended meeting of the SCO summit. Recalling one of the main items on the agenda - the approval by the heads of state of the Action Plan to Ensure International Information Security (IIS) - the Tajik leader explained that this was necessary to forestall the threat of “imposing an alien way of life on us.” The text of this plan became known to journalists only in the retelling of news agencies, from which, in particular, it follows that the SCO member countries intend to provide each other with “mutual assistance in preventing information attacks and responding to them.”
Based on what the Tajik president said, such “attacks” can be prevented, among other things, by introducing control over the Internet. Whether this is so, there was no opportunity to find out yesterday in Bishkek, since the press conference here was held exclusively in the genre of just answers, without any questions. As for control over the Internet, these technologies are commonplace in the SCO space, especially in Central Asia.
The Bishkek summit can be considered a success for other reasons. He managed without any scandals. Even such a prominent character as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was at the summit in observer status, could not create a scandal. The Iranian leader’s proposal to use the SCO to counter the “world occupation regime” or the imposition of violence by “arrogant powers” did not seem such a sensation. Few people could not recognize the USA in these phrases. And in the accusations against those who are “imposing new political maps” in the Middle East, the image of another traditional enemy of Tehran—Israel—is clearly readable. As the Vremya Novostey newspaper predicted in yesterday's issue, Ahmadinejad did not say anything that could cause his excommunication from the Shanghai club.
Other Vremya Novostey forecasts also came true. Vladimir Putin indeed took the initiative yesterday to hold a conference on Afghanistan under the auspices of the SCO. This idea was supported by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. In addition, as expected, there was evidence of different views on solving water and energy problems in Central Asia. This was especially evident in the comparative assessment of the speeches at the extended meeting of the summit of the presidents of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Emomali Rahmon and Islam Karimov. Mr. Rahmon swore to his colleagues that Tajikistan “will never, under any circumstances, design hydropower facilities that cause damage to its neighbors, and insinuations on this matter have nothing to do with reality.” Colleagues understood well who Rakhmonov’s passage was addressed to—Mr. Karimov, who was sitting next to him. There has long been controversy between neighboring countries regarding plans to build the Rogun hydroelectric dam in Tajikistan. Tashkent fears that a dam that is too high will enable Dushanbe to regulate water flows irrigating Uzbek valleys, thereby giving its neighbors political leverage over Uzbekistan. The Tajik leadership vehemently denied such suspicions.
Mr. Karimov, who spoke next, answered his neighbor. In order to “reasonably use the water-energy complex” of Central Asia, referring to “only transboundary rivers,” Mr. Karimov emphasized, it is necessary to independently audit projects for the construction of new hydropower facilities so that they do not harm countries. It seems that Karimov's position was supported by Nazarbayev - he inserted into his speech a mention of the problem of the shallowing of the Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Irtysh. Astana, in particular, has claims against Beijing due to the fact that the Chinese are taking water from the Irtysh for technological use in oil fields in Xinjiang.
The President of Uzbekistan, as always, spoke harshly about the problems of neighboring Afghanistan. According to Mr. Karimov, “there is a tendency for further deterioration in Afghanistan, drug production and drug trafficking are growing.” The search for a solution to the problem, he says, is not in further militarization, but in the demilitarization of the country, in increasing the social focus of efforts. It is necessary to seek a consensus solution on the paths of economic cooperation with Afghanistan. It is difficult to say to what extent these assessments can be considered support for Putin’s idea to hold an SCO conference on Afghanistan, but it is obvious that Karimov understands the situation south of the borders of Uzbekistan better than many.
Of course, in Bishkek they listened attentively to Chinese President Hu Jintao, the main sponsor of the Bishkek summit, who allocated about $20 million for its preparation. Chairman Hu clearly structured his speech, calling the main task of the SCO member countries to defend their sovereignty. For this reason, SCO partners must support each other. The Chinese leader did not even hint at who exactly is threatened by the loss of sovereignty within the SCO. Hu also spoke about China’s readiness to promote economic cooperation between the SCO countries in the fields of transport, energy, and communications. The President of the People's Republic of China reminded of the Summer Olympics to be held in Beijing next year, promising his colleagues that the athletes of their countries will have every opportunity to demonstrate their skills.
The Olympic theme was picked up by Vladimir Putin. He offered China assistance from Russia and its SCO partners in ensuring the security of the Olympics, adding that this experience could then be used when holding the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. Thus, within the framework of the SCO, another consensus topic emerged - the Olympic one.
In a curious twist, China and Russia compete for economic influence in Central Asia. During a meeting with President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Putin promised Russian investments in Kyrgyzstan in the amount of up to $2 billion if Bishkek offers projects worthy of this. According to Vremya Novostei, such projects could include plans to build a large complex in the republic for the production of aluminum using raw materials mined in Kyrgyzstan and electricity produced there.
The proposals to partners made by the Russian President during the summit concerned, first of all, strengthening the power component of the measures taken in the SCO to counter terrorism and other modern threats. Putin proposed holding annual military exercises on the territory of the SCO member countries, similar to those that are ending today near Chelyabinsk in the presence of the leaders of the countries of the organization.
Yesterday, the decision was announced to hold the SCO summit in 2009 in Russia, in Yekaterinburg, closer to the center of Eurasia. By the way, it is believed that the geographical center of the Eurasian space is a point located in the Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan. The SCO summit next year will be held in Dushanbe.
Turkmenistan and its President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, who was invited as a guest of President Bakiyev, became a debutant at SCO summits. Turkmenbashi’s successor looked extremely confident in himself, made a record-breaking speech in which he thanked everyone who contributed to the establishment of the UN Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Ashgabat, and sat for a while in the hall with journalists, observing the procedure for signing the final documents of the summit. And then he suddenly rose from his seat, dragging the entire Turkmen delegation with him, including journalists and security guards, and left the hall. This was so noticeable that it even puzzled those present.
However, since the Turkmen president also emphasized the neutral status of his country in Bishkek, this gesture could look like particularly clear evidence of neutrality.
At the summit in Bishkek under the auspices of the heads of state, it was possible to strengthen the financial foundation for the economic integration of the SCO member countries. Yesterday, in the presence of President Putin and other leaders, an agreement was signed between two structures of the organization - the Interbank Association and the SCO Business Council. The agreement was signed by Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev (he currently holds the post of Chairman of the Council of the Interbank Association) and Chairman of the Board of the Business Council Dmitry Mezentsev. As the Vnesheconombank press service explained, the agreement “establishes the format of long-term partnerships between the two leading structures in the SCO economic space.” In particular, it is planned to create a unified database on investment projects proposed for joint implementation within the SCO, exchange of business proposals, cooperation in the field of personnel training, etc. Vnesheconombank, which chairs the SCO Interbank Association this year, will transfer these powers to partners from Kazakhstan. And although VEB this year went through a complex procedure of transformation into the Development Bank, chairmanship in the SCO Interbank Association did not become a formality - on the contrary, the work of the association created in 2005 has seriously intensified. VEB held several rounds of working consultations with partner banks at different levels, focusing on creating a common base of projects, as well as developing common criteria for the examination of projects implemented by members of the association. One of the results was the agreements that Vladimir Dmitriev signed in Bishkek these days with partners - the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Settlement and Savings Company.