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Shos and its historical significance. Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Dossier. Participation of the Russian Federation in the SCO

Last update - 06/23/2016

On June 23, the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries gather in Tashkent for the 15th summit. The event will take place June 23-24. All the heads of the countries of the organization confirmed their participation in it. About 1,000 representatives of the SCO countries, international organizations and foreign media will also arrive in Tashkent to participate in the event.

The leaders intend to discuss what steps need to be taken to improve the activities of the organization, consider cooperation in the economy, security and counter-terrorism, and go over topical international issues.

11 documents for signing have been prepared for the summit. It is assumed that the main document following the results of the summit will be the Tashkent Declaration of the 15th anniversary of the SCO, which will reflect the approaches of the members of the organization to the prospects for its development, the position of the SCO on the current international and regional situation, and the solution of pressing security problems.

The history of the emergence and structure of the SCO

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a regional international organization founded in 2001.

The prerequisites for the creation of the SCO were laid back in the 60s of the 20th century, when the USSR and the PRC entered into negotiations to resolve territorial disputes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, new participants in the negotiations appeared in the face of Russia and the states of Central Asia. After the PRC resolved territorial disputes with neighboring CIS states (Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), the possibility of further development of regional cooperation appeared.

In 1996, the "Shanghai Five" was formed, which included Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. By the time the summit was held in Bishkek, a new international organization had begun to take shape. There were national coordinators appointed by each country. As a result, on June 15, 2001, the first meeting of the SCO was held in Shanghai, at which Uzbekistan was admitted to the organization.

The official working languages are Russian and Chinese. The headquarters of the SCO is located in Beijing. The symbolism of the organization includes a white flag with the emblem of the SCO in the center. The emblem depicts two laurel wreaths on the sides, in the center - a symbolic image of the eastern hemisphere of the Earth with the outlines of the earth's land, which is occupied by the "six", below and above - the inscription in Chinese and Russian: "Shanghai Cooperation Organization".

It is noted that the total territory of the countries belonging to the SCO is 61% of the Eurasian space. Its total demographic potential is one-fourth of the world's population.

Organization structure:

Council of Heads of State (CHS);
Council of Heads of Government (CGP);
Council of Foreign Ministers (CMFA);
Meetings of heads of ministries and departments;
Council of National Coordinators (CNC);
Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS);
Secretariat - representative of Russia Dmitry Mezentsev(appointed on June 7, 2012, in office from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015).

SCO members

SCO member countries:

Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan,
Russia,
Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan.

Observer states:

Afghanistan,
India,
Iran,
Mongolia,
Pakistan.

Dialogue partners:

Belarus,
Turkey,
Sri Lanka.

The SCO has partnership agreements with:

CSTO,
EurAsEC,
ASEAN.

SCO goals

The main goals and objectives of the SCO are:

strengthening of mutual trust, friendship and good-neighbourliness between member states;
development of multidisciplinary cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen peace, security and stability in the region, to promote the construction of a new democratic, fair and rational political and economic international order;
joint counteraction to terrorism, separatism and extremism in all their manifestations, combating drug and arms trafficking, other types of transnational criminal activity, as well as illegal migration;
encouragement of effective regional cooperation in political, trade and economic, defense, law enforcement, environmental protection, cultural, scientific and technical, educational, energy, transport, credit and financial and other areas of common interest;
promotion of comprehensive and balanced economic growth, social and cultural development in the region through joint actions based on equal partnership in order to steadily raise the level and improve the living conditions of the peoples of the Member States;
coordination of approaches to integration into the world economy;
promoting the provision of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the international obligations of the Member States and their national legislation;
maintenance and development of relations with other states and international organizations;
interaction in the prevention of international conflicts and their peaceful settlement;
joint search for solutions to problems that will arise in the twenty-first century.

2.1 Goals, objectives and principles of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Mechanisms and organizational structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

On June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, the heads of state of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, highly appreciating the positive role of the "Shanghai Five" and believing that the creation and development of the "Shanghai Five" met the needs of mankind and the historical development of these states, signed the "Declaration on the establishment of the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization". On the basis of the Declaration on the Establishment of the SCO, on June 7, 2002, at the summit in St. Petersburg, the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed.

The Charter consists of 26 articles that define the goals and objectives of the SCO, principles, areas of cooperation, the organizational structure of the SCO, funding, relations with other states and international organizations, the duration and entry into force, as well as the language, dispute resolution, amendments and additions.

In accordance with the Charter, the main goals and objectives of the SCO are:

1. Strengthening of mutual trust, friendship and good-neighborliness among the Member States;

2. development of multidisciplinary cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen peace, security and stability in the region, to promote the construction of a new democratic, just and rational political and economic international order;

3. joint counteraction to terrorism, separatism and extremism in all their manifestations, the fight against drug and arms trafficking, other types of criminal transnational activities, as well as illegal migration;

4. Encouragement of effective regional cooperation in political, trade and economic, defense, law enforcement, environmental protection, cultural, scientific and technical, educational, energy, transport, credit and financial and other areas of common interest;

5. promoting comprehensive and balanced economic growth, social and cultural development in the region through joint action based on equal partnership in order to steadily improve the standard of living and improve the living conditions of the peoples of the Member States;

6. coordination of approaches to integration into the world economy;

7. promoting the provision of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the international obligations of the Member States and their national legislation;

8. maintenance and development of relations with other states and international organizations;

9. interaction in the prevention of international conflicts and their peaceful settlement;

10. joint search for solutions to problems that will arise in the 21st century.

The SCO member states adhere to the following principles:

1. mutual respect for the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity of states and the inviolability of state borders, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, non-use of force or threat of force in international relations, renunciation of unilateral military superiority in adjacent areas;

2. equality of all member states, search for common points of view based on mutual understanding and respect for the opinions of each of them;

3. step-by-step implementation of joint actions in areas of common interest;

4.peaceful resolution of disagreements between member states;

6. preventing any illegal actions directed against the interests of the SCO;

7. conscientious fulfillment of the obligations arising from this Charter and other documents adopted within the framework of the SCO.

Unlike the Shanghai Five, the SCO begins to adhere to new principles: the gradual implementation of joint actions in areas of common interest, the prevention of any illegal actions directed against the interests of the SCO, as well as the non-direction of the SCO against other states and international organizations.

To fulfill the goals and objectives of the Charter, the following supranational institutions operate within the Organization:

Council of Heads of State;

Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers);

Council of Foreign Ministers;

Meetings of heads of ministries and departments;

Council of National Coordinators;

Regional antiterrorist structure;

Secretariat.

All these bodies are executive structures, and there is no such body as a parliamentary assembly or a single court. This shows the initial level of the institutional development of the SCO.

The functions and procedures for the work of the SCO bodies, with the exception of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, are determined by the relevant provisions, which are approved by the Council of Heads of State.

The Council of Heads of State may decide to establish other SCO bodies. The creation of new bodies is formalized in the form of additional protocols to the Charter.

The Council of Heads of State is the supreme body of the SCO. It determines the priorities and develops the main directions of the Organization's activities, resolves the fundamental issues of its internal structure and functioning, interaction with other states and international organizations, and also considers the most pressing international problems.

The Council meets for regular meetings once a year. The chairmanship at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State is carried out by the head of the state organizing the next meeting. The venue of the next meeting of the Council is determined, as a rule, in the order of the Russian alphabet of the names of the SCO member states.

The Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) adopts the budget of the Organization, considers and decides on the main issues related to specific, especially economic, areas of development of interaction within the framework of the Organization.

The Council meets for regular meetings once a year. The meeting of the Council is chaired by the head of government (Prime Minister) of the state in whose territory the meeting is held.

The venue of the next meeting of the Council is determined by prior agreement of the heads of government (prime ministers)

Member States.

The Council of Foreign Ministers considers the current activities of the Organization, the preparation of a meeting of the Council of Heads of State and the holding of consultations within the framework of the Organization on International Problems. The Council may, if necessary, make statements on behalf of the SCO.

The Council meets, as a rule, one month before the meeting of the Council of Heads of State. Extraordinary meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers are convened on the initiative of at least two Member States and with the consent of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of all other Member States. The venue of the regular and extraordinary meetings of the Council is determined by mutual agreement.

The chairmanship of the Council shall be exercised by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Member State of the Organization on whose territory a regular meeting of the Council of Heads of State is held.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs represents the Organization in the implementation of external contacts in accordance with the Regulations on the Procedure of the Council's work.

In accordance with the decisions of the Council of Heads of State and the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers), the heads of sectoral ministries and departments of the Member States hold meetings on a regular basis to consider specific issues of developing cooperation in relevant areas within the framework of the SCO.

The chairmanship is carried out by the head of the relevant ministry or department of the host state of the meeting. The place and time of the meeting will be agreed in advance.

For the preparation and holding of meetings, by prior agreement of the Member States, working groups of experts can be created on a permanent or temporary basis, which carry out their activities in accordance with the work regulations approved at meetings of heads of ministries or departments. These groups are formed from representatives of ministries or departments of member states.

The Council of National Coordinators is the body of the SCO that coordinates and manages the current activities of the Organization. He carries out the necessary preparations for the meetings of the Council of Heads of State, the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) and the Council of Foreign Ministers. National Focal Points are appointed by each Member State in accordance with its internal rules and procedures.

The Council meets at least three times a year. The chairmanship of the Council is exercised by the national coordinator of the Member State of the Organization, on whose territory the regular meeting of the Council of Heads of State will be held, for a period starting from the date of completion of the last regular meeting of the Council of Heads of State and ending with the date of the regular meeting of the Council of Heads of State.

The Chairman of the Council of National Coordinators, on behalf of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, may represent the Organization in the implementation of external contacts in accordance with the Regulations on the procedure for the work of the Council of National Coordinators.

The Regional Antiterrorist Structure of the States Parties to the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism of June 15, 2001, located in the city of Bishkek, is a permanent body of the SCO.

Its main tasks and functions, the principles of formation and financing, as well as the procedure for its activities are regulated by a separate international agreement concluded between the Member States, and other necessary documents adopted by them.

If necessary, the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States may establish branches of the RATS in the territories of the Parties. The status of the RATS branch and the persons working in it is determined by an agreement between the SCO and the government of the host state.

RATS is designed to promote coordination and interaction between the competent authorities of the Parties in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism.

In its activities, the RATS is guided by documents and decisions relating to the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, adopted within the framework of the SCO. The RATS interacts with the competent authorities of the Parties, including the exchange of information, and prepares relevant materials at the request of other SCO authorities.

The RATS bodies are the RATS Council and the Executive Committee. The Council may establish the necessary subsidiary bodies. The Council consists of the states that are members of the SCO. It is organized in such a way that it can function continuously. For this purpose, each Party must be permanently represented at the seat of the RATS. The Council takes binding decisions on all matters of substance, including financial matters. The Council submits annual reports on the activities of the RATS to the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States. A decision in the Council on any issue is considered adopted if none of the Parties objected to it.

RATS has the status of a legal entity and has the right to:

conclude contracts;

Acquire movable and immovable property and dispose of it;

Open and maintain bank accounts in any currency;

File lawsuits in courts and participate in court proceedings.

These rights are exercised on behalf of the RATS by the Director of the RATS Executive Committee.

The activities of the RATS are financed from the SCO budget. The procedure for financing the RATS is determined by the documents regulating the issues of the SCO budget.

The main tasks and functions of the RATS are:

2) assistance to the competent authorities of the Parties in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism;

3) collection and analysis of information received by the RATS from the Parties on the issues of combating terrorism, separatism and extremism;

4) provision of information at the request of the competent authorities of the Parties;

5) assistance in the preparation and conduct of anti-terrorist command-staff and operational-tactical exercises;

6) assistance in the preparation and conduct of operational-search and other measures to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism;

7) assistance in the implementation of the international search for persons who allegedly committed these acts, in order to bring them to criminal liability;

8) participation in the preparation of international legal documents affecting the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism;

9) assistance in the training of specialists and instructors for anti-terrorist units;

10) participation in the preparation and holding of scientific and practical conferences, seminars, assistance in the exchange of experience on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism;

11) establishing and maintaining working contacts with international organizations involved in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism.

The Executive Committee shall consist of the Director and such personnel as may be required for the smooth running of the RATS. The structure of the Executive Committee, as well as its staff list, is approved by the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO Member States on the basis of the Director's proposals approved by the Council.

The official languages of the RATS are Russian and Chinese, the working language is Russian.

The Secretariat is a permanent administrative body of the SCO. It provides organizational and technical support for the events held within the framework of the SCO, prepares proposals for the organization's annual budget.

The Secretariat is headed by the Executive Secretary, who is approved by the Council of Heads of State on the proposal of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

The Executive Secretary is appointed from among the citizens of the Member States on a rotational basis in the Russian alphabetical order of the names of the Member States for a period of three years without the right to renew for another term.

The Deputy Executive Secretaries are approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers on the proposal of the Council of National Coordinators. They may not be representatives of the State for which the Executive Secretary is appointed. Secretariat officials are recruited from among the citizens of the Member States on a quota basis.

In the performance of their duties, the Executive Secretary, his deputies and other officers of the secretariat shall not seek or receive instructions from any Member State or government, organization or individual. They must refrain from any action that could affect their position as international officials responsible only to the SCO.

Member States undertake to respect the international nature of the duties of the Executive Secretary, his deputies and Secretariat staff and not to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

It follows that this structure has a supranational character.

The seat of the SCO Secretariat is the city of Beijing.

Thus, the SCO institutions are supranational and independent of national governments.

The SCO has its own budget, which is formed and executed in accordance with a special agreement between the member states. This agreement also determines the amounts of contributions that Member States will annually contribute to the budget of the Organization on the basis of the principle of shared participation.

Sizes of contributions of the SCO member states to the budget of the Organization:

Republic of Kazakhstan - 20%;

Republic of Uzbekistan - 15%;

Republic of Tajikistan - 6%;

Kyrgyz Republic - 12%;

People's Republic of China - 23.5%;

Russian Federation - 23.5%.

The budget of the Organization is drawn up for a period of one calendar year, which is also a financial year and is approved by the Council of Heads of Government.

The Organization's budget covers all estimated income and projected expenditures for the financial year to which they relate, and is presented in United States dollars. Annual dues and advances are accrued and paid in US dollars.

Amounts payable on account of equity (assessed) contributions are transferred to a bank determined by the Executive Secretary in agreement with the Council of National Coordinators. Assessed contributions are due in full within thirty days of receipt of notification of due contributions from the Executive Secretary, or by the first day of the calendar year.

The unpaid amounts of accrued annual contributions by a Member State are the debt of this State to the Organization, subject to mandatory repayment.

The depositary of this Agreement is the People's Republic of China.

Budget funds are directed to finance the permanent bodies of the SCO in accordance with the above-mentioned agreement. The Member States bear the costs associated with the participation of their representatives and experts in the Organization's events.

The SCO is open for admission to its membership of other states of the region, which undertake to comply with the goals and principles of the Charter, as well as the provisions of other international treaties and documents adopted within the framework of the SCO.

The decision on the admission of new members to the SCO is made by the Council of Heads of State on the proposal of the Council of Foreign Ministers on the basis of an official application of the interested state sent to the current Chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Any member state has the right to withdraw from the SCO by sending the depositary an official notice of withdrawal from the Charter no later than 12 months before the date of withdrawal. Obligations that arose during the period of participation in the Charter and other documents adopted within the framework of the SCO bind the respective states until they are fully implemented.

Decisions in the SCO bodies are taken by agreement without voting and are considered adopted if none of the member states objected to them during the agreement process (consensus), with the exception of decisions to suspend membership or expel from the Organization, which are made on the basis of the “consensus” principle. minus one vote of the Member State concerned.”

This principle of coordination makes it possible to resolve only minor issues, while a truly complex problem is most often not resolved due to the different positions of the parties. In particular, the SCO never recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Any member state may express its point of view on certain aspects or specific issues of decisions being made, which is not an obstacle to making a decision as a whole. This point of view is recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

In cases where one or more Member States are not interested in the implementation of individual cooperation projects that are of interest to other Member States, the non-participation of the said Member States in them does not prevent the implementation of such cooperation projects by the interested Member States and, at the same time, does not prevent the said States Members to further join in the implementation of such projects .

In this regard, the countries that are members of the SCO practically do not bind themselves with strict obligations, which means that as an integration association, the SCO is still quite weak. On the other hand, cooperation in the SCO can develop in certain areas on a bilateral or multilateral basis.

The decisions of the SCO bodies are executed by the member states in accordance with the procedures determined by their national legislation. It follows that the decisions adopted by the SCO may change in practice due to their dependence on national legislation. Thus, national legislation is primary in relation to the obligations of the Parties adopted within the framework of the SCO.

Control over the fulfillment of the obligations of the Member States to implement this Charter, other treaties in force within the framework of the SCO and decisions of its bodies is carried out by the SCO bodies within their competence. Therefore, there is no single controlling body.

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The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organization, the establishment of which was announced on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.

In June 2002, at the St. Petersburg Summit of the Heads of State of the SCO Member States, the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed, which entered into force on September 19, 2003. This is the basic statutory document that fixes the goals and principles of the organization, its structure and main activities.

On June 8-9, 2017, a historic meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Astana, during which the status of a member state of the Organization was granted to the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The main goals of the SCO include: strengthening mutual trust and good neighborliness between the member countries; promotion of their effective cooperation in the political, trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural fields, as well as in the field of education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection and others; joint provision and maintenance of peace, security and stability in the region; moving towards the creation of a democratic, just and rational new international political and economic order.

In relations within the organization, the SCO member states, based on the "Shanghai spirit", adhere to the principles of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, mutual consultations, respect for the diversity of cultures and the desire for common development, and in external relations adhere to the principle of non-alliance, not directed against anyone and openness.

The highest decision-making body in the SCO is the Council of Heads of Member States (CHS). It meets once a year and takes decisions and instructions on all important issues of the Organization. The Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO Member States (CGP) meets once a year to discuss the strategy of multilateral cooperation and priority areas within the Organization, address fundamental and topical issues of economic and other cooperation, and also approves the annual budget of the Organization. The official languages of the SCO are Russian and Chinese.

In addition to the meetings of the CHS and the CHP, there is also a mechanism for meetings at the level of heads of parliaments, secretaries of security councils, ministers of foreign affairs, defense, emergency situations, economy, transport, culture, education, healthcare, heads of law enforcement agencies, supreme and arbitration courts, prosecutors general. The Council of National Coordinators of the SCO Member States (CNC) serves as the coordination mechanism within the SCO.

The organization has two permanent bodies - the SCO Secretariat in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the SCO in Tashkent. The SCO Secretary General and the Director of the SCO RATS Executive Committee are appointed by the Council of Heads of State for a period of three years. Since January 1, 2016, these posts have been respectively occupied by Rashid Alimov (Tajikistan) and Evgeny Sysoev (Russia).

So currently:

eight countries are SCO member states - the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan;
four countries have the status of an observer state in the SCO - the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Mongolia;
six countries are partners in the SCO dialogue - the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Republic of Turkey, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Introduction.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), founded in June 2001, belongs to the regional integration groupings that are at the initial stage of their formation. At the same time, it is actually the direct successor of the "Shanghai Five". The "Shanghai Five", formed as a result of the signing of the Agreement on confidence-building in the military field in the border area (1996) between the PRC, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the Agreement on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border area (1997). The rapprochement of these countries was dictated primarily by the threat to the security of their border territories from the main source of instability in Central Asia - Afghanistan, where a civil war was going on between the troops of the Northern Coalition and the Taliban movement. Gradually, the range of issues expanded to the spheres of foreign policy, economics, environmental protection, including the use of water resources, culture, etc.

The countries, driven by the desire to ensure regional security and stability, resolve existing problems and jointly counter the increasing penetration of terrorist elements from Afghanistan, as well as religious extremism and separatism in Central Asia, saw the need to create a powerful regional grouping.

The solution of the most acute and urgent problems within the framework of the "five" and the deepening of all-round cooperation allowed the participants to reach an agreement on the further development of cooperation. In June 2001, the "Shanghai Five" was transformed into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the parties agreed on its charter and budget, and the ideological basis was the so-called "spirit of Shanghai" - mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, achievement of mutual understanding, voluntary agreement to adhere to the achieved agreements.

The creation of the SCO, which included states with a population of a quarter of the population and 60 percent of the territory of the Eurasian continent, two powers with nuclear weapons and gigantic economic potential - Russia and China, could not but attract the attention of the whole world. India, Pakistan, Mongolia, Iran have expressed their desire to take part in the activities of this association in one form or another, and an SCO contact group Afghanistan has been created. The international influence of the SCO is evidenced by the desire for cooperation with it by a number of international organizations, including the OSCE, the UN Anti-Terrorism Committee, etc.

The relevance of the course work: In today's unstable world, where our country faces many challenges in the political, economic, military and many other areas, it becomes vital to build good neighborly relations with border states. In this regard, the factor of integration interaction between the Russian Federation and the countries of this region at all its levels is of particular importance; Russia's participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization seems especially promising.

The SCO, setting as its goals: strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good neighborliness between member states, developing multidisciplinary cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen peace, security and stability in the region, jointly countering terrorism, separatism and extremism in all their manifestations, combating illicit trafficking drugs and weapons, other types of transnational criminal activities, as well as illegal migration, promoting effective regional cooperation in political, trade and economic, defense, law enforcement, energy, transport, credit and financial and other areas of common interest, has great potential for development, and also correlates with the main directions of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. The development of integration between the SCO countries is of particular importance for residents of Eastern Siberia and the Far East, since it includes countries directly bordering these regions.

An object course work: Shanghai Cooperation Organization and prospects for further development of the SCO.

Subject course work: problems of the current state, interaction and communication within the framework of the integration grouping.

Chronological framework: the term paper considers the time period from the year of the formation of the "Shanghai Five" to the present.

The work put the following goals: study the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the current state of the SCO and the problems of developing further integration.

Based on the objectives, the course work puts the following tasks:

1. Give a general description of the structure of the SCO;

2. Study the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization;

3. Determine the role of the SCO in the global system of international

Relationships;

4. Consider the prospects for the development of the SCO.

The following sources are used in the course work: forum materials on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, analytical reports of the MGIMO Scientific and Coordinating Council for International Studies, speeches by the heads of state of the SCO members, newspaper articles on the SCO, as well as declarations of the organization, the Treaty on Long-term Good Neighborliness, Friendship and cooperation between the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, materials of the SCO official website http://www.sectsco.org and the Internet resource http://www.infoshos.ru.

1. General characteristics of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Describing the SCO (Appendix No. 1) it is necessary, first of all, to consider for what purpose and for what purpose this organization was created. Of decisive importance for the process of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the existence of external threats and challenges to the well-being, stability and security of the states of the region, primarily in the face of the escalation of terrorism and extremism, as well as economic problems in a world undergoing difficult processes of globalization.

According to this, the SCO sets itself the task of strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good neighborliness between member states; development of multidisciplinary cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen peace, security and stability in the region, to promote the construction of a new democratic, just and rational political and economic international order; joint counteraction to terrorism, separatism and extremism in all their manifestations, combating drug and arms trafficking, other types of transnational criminal activity, as well as illegal migration; encouragement of effective regional cooperation in political, trade and economic, defense, law enforcement, environmental protection, cultural, scientific and technical, educational, energy, transport, credit and financial and other areas of common interest; promotion of comprehensive and balanced economic growth, social and cultural development in the region through joint actions based on equal partnership in order to steadily improve the level and improve the living conditions of the peoples of the Member States; coordination of approaches to integration into the world economy; promoting the provision of human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the international obligations of the Member States and their national legislation; maintenance and development of relations with other states and international organizations; interaction in the prevention of international conflicts and their peaceful settlement; joint search for solutions to problems that will arise in the twenty-first century.

1 .one. History of the development of the SCO.

The creation of the "Shanghai Five", and then the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Appendix No. 2) was due to a number of problems that arose, after the collapse of the USSR, the most important of them were border issues, as well as cooperation in the border zone. It was necessary to come to a common solution to these issues, first of all, with the dynamically developing and gaining strength of China. Since during the existence of the Soviet Union these problems were not given sufficient attention and, as a result, over the years they have accumulated a large conflict potential, so for Russia and other states of the former USSR that had just gained independence, an early search for ways to develop cooperation was necessary. To resolve these issues, the only possible path was chosen - the peaceful settlement of disputed problems on the basis of consensus and taking into account mutual interests.

The foundations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization were laid at a meeting of the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan in Minsk on September 8, 1992. The implementation of these complex tasks, met with understanding in Beijing, however, took four years.

The main "generator" of the processes taking place within the framework of the "Shanghai Five" is Russian-Chinese cooperation and dialogue between the two largest states of the world, which has acquired a positive character in recent years. The leaders of the countries of the association began to meet regularly to jointly solve the urgent problems of the region. The main result of the first meeting (1996) of the "Shanghai Five" was the signing by the presidents of five countries of the Agreement on confidence-building measures in the military field in the area of the joint border. On April 24, 1997, at the second summit in Moscow, the leaders of the "five" signed a five-sided Agreement on the mutual reduction of armed forces and armaments on the joint border (near the border of China and other countries participating in the summit). The document defined a mechanism for strict control over the observance of obligations on non-build-up of troops in the border area.

The agreements reached during the two meetings set a precedent for the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes.

On July 3, 1998, the third meeting of the Shanghai Five took place in Alma-Ata. A meeting designed to give this kind of summits a regular character. The main topic of the Alma-Ata meeting, at the suggestion of the Chinese side, was the expansion of cooperation in the field of regional security and trade and economic exchange. During the meeting, the foreign ministers of the participating countries signed a joint five-sided statement, in which they reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of good neighborliness. It fixes an agreement to actively develop consultations on security issues, to which all the interested states of the region could join. They also considered a wide range of issues relating both to general problems of international security and to specific areas of bilateral and regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. The final document was signed by the ministers of foreign affairs. In the negotiations on economic issues, the greatest attention was paid to multilateral projects in the field of energy.

Thus, the issues considered by the Shanghai Five have gone beyond border issues and now began to cover a much “broader” sphere, including both politics and economics and the development of cooperation in other areas, which is especially important to consider the problems of international security.

On August 24-25, 1999, the fourth meeting of the heads of the five states-participants of the Shanghai (1996) and Moscow (1997) agreements on building confidence in the military field and on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border area took place in Bishkek. The meeting was attended by President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin, President of China Jiang Zemin, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic A. Akaev, President of the Republic of Tajikistan E. Rakhmonov. As a follow-up to the agreements in principle reached at the meeting in Alma-Ata on July 3, 1998, concrete directions for expanding multilateral cooperation have been outlined. During this meeting, the "Agreement between the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China and the Kyrgyz Republic on the junction point of the state borders of the three states" was signed.

Particular attention was paid to the issues of restoring the significance of the Great Silk Road, which passed through the territory of all the states of the "Shanghai Five".

The final document of the summit was the "Bishkek Declaration", signed by the heads of five states.

The summit in Bishkek practically coincided with the invasion of foreign gangs into the territory of Kyrgyzstan, in connection with which all participants of the meeting expressed their unanimous support for the measures taken by the Kyrgyz leadership to counter extremists.

The summit in Bishkek practically coincided with the invasion of foreign gangs into the territory of Kyrgyzstan, in connection with which all the participants of the meeting expressed their unanimous support for the measures taken by the Kyrgyz leadership to counter extremists.

It is possible that this event prompted the states of the "Shanghai Five" to pay special attention to the need to deepen cooperation in the field of combating international terrorism and religious extremism.

This trend was especially pronounced at the fifth summit of the "Shanghai Five" on July 6, 2000 in Dushanbe.

The main result of the Dushanbe meeting was the development of common approaches in the fight against extremism and terrorism, which have become a real threat to the security of all states in the region without exception.

President of Uzbekistan I. Karimova took part in the summit as an observer. Uzbekistan, thus, joined the process of searching for joint measures to counter religious extremism and international terrorism.

Taking into account the prospective expansion of the number of participants in the organization, President of Tajikistan E. Rakhmonov put forward an initiative to rename it into the "Shanghai Forum".

The “Dushanbe Declaration” adopted at the end of the meeting expressed the determination of the members of the “five” to prevent the use of their territories for activities “damaging the sovereignty, security and public order of any of the five states.”

The document also emphasized the desire of the parties to turn the "Shanghai Five" into a "regional structure of multilateral cooperation in various fields."

Joint work at the summits made it possible to create an atmosphere of what has become known as the "Shanghai spirit" - to develop an atmosphere of mutual trust, through the first experience of mutual consultations to come to a consensus mechanism and voluntary agreement to implement the provisions of the agreements reached. Gradually, the range of issues expanded to the spheres of foreign policy, economics, environmental protection, including the use of water resources, culture, etc. All this led to the need to formalize the system of summits and consultations into a new regional association.

Concrete actions in this direction were taken at the summit of the association's members held on June 14-15, 2001 in Shanghai.

The heads of state adopted a "Joint Statement" on the entry of Uzbekistan into the Shanghai Forum as a full participant.

At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was not created because another state was admitted to it. Time presented new challenges: terrorism, extremism, separatism.

The signing of the "Declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization" symbolizes the association's reaching a qualitatively new, higher level, and significantly increases the authority of this organization in the region and in the world as a whole. The SCO is an organization that emerged from the desire of states to jointly resolve issues of mutual security and confidence-building measures and subsequently extended its interests to the spheres of political, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

1 .2. Organizational structure of the SCO.

In the course of subsequent summits, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization began to take on concrete outlines and structure. In June 2002, the second meeting of the heads of the SCO member states was held in St. Petersburg, at which three documents were signed - the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Agreement between the SCO member states on the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and the Declaration of the Heads of State of the SCO Member States. The guidelines for the development of the SCO proclaimed in the Declaration were legally fixed in the Charter. The charter gives the "six" the status of an international organization and is the basic document that defines, along with the main areas of cooperation, the internal structure and mechanism for forming a common course and building relationships with other countries and organizations.

In May 2003, the third meeting of the heads of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization took place in Moscow. During the summit, the leaders of the states adopted a number of agreements that determined the final status of the SCO and the procedure for its functioning.

The heads of the six member states approved and signed the Agreement on the Formation and Execution of the SCO Budget, Regulations on the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States, Regulations on the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO Member States, Regulations on the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Member States SCO, Regulations on the Council of National Coordinators of the SCO Member States, Regulations on Meetings of Heads of Ministries and/or Departments of the SCO Member States, Regulations on the SCO Secretariat, Regulations of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and Regulations on the Permanent Representatives of the SCO Member States to the SCO Secretariat , approved the candidacy of the first Executive Secretary, Ambassador Zhang Deguang (Appendix No. 3) and symbols of the SCO, as well as signed and published the Declaration of the Heads of State of the SCO Member States.

All the main structures of the SCO began full-fledged work in January 2004. By this time, the construction of the headquarters in Beijing and the preparatory work of the embassies of the member countries in Beijing to ensure the activities of the secretariat in the initial period of work have been completed. The list of major organs includes:

Council of Heads of State– annual SCO summits in the capitals of the participating countries.

Council of Heads of Government .

Council of Foreign Ministers(CMFA) - the first meeting was held in November 2002. It precedes summit meetings, coordinates the positions of participants and prepares key documents for signing by heads of state, and also accepts its own appeals (on the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on the Suppression of International Terrorism and the Convention on the Suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism in 2002).

Meetings of heads of ministries and departments- The first meetings of defense ministers were held back in 2000 within the framework of the "five", since then they have been held on a regular basis.

Secretariat(Beijing) - its number is up to 40 people, started work in 2004. January 15 - The official opening ceremony of the SCO Secretariat was held, which was attended by Member of the State Council of the PRC Tang Jiaxuan, Foreign Ministers and National Coordinators of six member states, representatives of the UN, EU, OSCE, CIS and other international organizations, members of the diplomatic corps in Beijing, heads of Chinese departments.

It is necessary to highlight the presence of representatives of a number of influential international organizations, which emphasizes the significance of the actions and decisions of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for the entire world community and, first of all, for the Eurasian space.

Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, also formed in 2004, thus creating both permanent bodies, the SCO has already fully started normal activities.

For a more complete reflection of all the structures of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a table is attached. (Appendix No. 4) .

2. SCO in the world system of international relations.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization brings together states that hold similar views on world development trends and are ready to jointly seek coordinated approaches to solving international and regional problems. Its other task is to strengthen regional economic and cultural cooperation. The SCO does not oppose itself to anyone, it is aimed at a positive solution of specific problems in the interests of member countries.

The Declaration of the Shanghai Summit (June 2006) states: “The key to the successful development of the SCO is that it is invariably guided and steadily follows the “Shanghai spirit”, which is characterized by mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, mutual consultations, respect for diversity. cultures, the desire for joint development. All this is extremely important for the world community to search for a new, non-confrontational model of interstate relations that would exclude the thinking of the Cold War era and stand above ideological differences.”

Attempts to oppose the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to the West or create an anti-American bloc on its basis are doomed to failure, since this contradicts the fundamental interests of the participating states interested in cooperation with the West in many areas. However, acting primarily in the interests of the association's members, the SCO periodically encounters misunderstanding and even hostility from those who see the world as unipolar and pass off their interests as universal.

The activity of the organization does not negate or belittle the mechanisms of cooperation already developed by the Member States with other countries or groups of countries. The task of the SCO is to create additional areas of cooperation that did not previously exist or are impossible outside its framework. The fate of the organization depends on how broad these areas will be, as well as whether it can convince states of its ability to succeed.

The SCO approaches the problems of international security from a much broader position than the United States and its allies. If Washington prioritizes military strikes against international terrorist centers and pressure on states that support terrorism, then, from the point of view of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, international terrorism is directly linked to separatism and religious extremism. Thus, while coordinating their activities with the United States, the SCO member countries are acting according to their own program, closely linking the antiterrorist struggle with ensuring their territorial integrity and guaranteeing the preservation of secular regimes in power in Central Asia.

Another area in which the Shanghai Cooperation Organization does not share the American approach is the fight against drug trafficking. There is a strong opinion in the participating states that the situation with the production of drugs in Afghanistan after the arrival of the anti-terrorist coalition troops there has deteriorated significantly, and the new authorities of Kabul and the foreign military units supporting them are unwilling or unable to correct this situation. The influx of Afghan drugs into neighboring countries has increased and poses a serious threat to their security. The Agreement on Cooperation in Combating Illegal Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, signed at the Tashkent Summit in June 2004, acquires great importance.

In connection with the latest events taking place in the world economy, it is necessary to pay special attention to the policy of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in this direction.

In the current conditions, regional economic cooperation comes to the fore. Moreover, the future of the SCO depends precisely on the ability to establish economic cooperation. Only on the basis of a common economic interest are such politically different countries able to create a permanent and effective mechanism for cooperation. Speaking at the First Eurasian Economic Forum, held by the SCO Secretariat jointly with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the China Development Bank in the Chinese city of Xi'an in November 2005, Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, noted that the countries of Eurasia have advantages geographic proximity and great economic complementarity, have extensive areas of cooperation and broad prospects. In this regard, he called, based on mutual respect, the principles of equality, mutual benefit and openness, to fully identify the role of the SCO and other regional organizations in a more dynamic and sustainable growth of the economies of the countries of the region.

Participation in the SCO has opened up new opportunities for economic integration between the member states of this organization. Indeed, the territory of the SCO member states covers both the European and Asian continents, the region has the richest resources and a huge market, so the potential for the development of trade and economic cooperation is unusually high.

Formally, work is underway. Many documents have been adopted that complement and develop each other: Memorandum on the main goals and directions of regional economic cooperation (2001), Program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation until 2020 (2003), Action plan for the implementation of this program (2004), Mechanism for implementing the Action Plan (2005). Meetings of the Council of Heads of State are held annually, at which plans for economic cooperation are considered, etc. Legislation is being harmonized, economic forums are being held, the Business Council and the SCO Interbank Association have been formed, the idea of creating an Energy Club has been put forward (however, things have not yet gone further than the idea).

However, no project has yet been brought to the implementation stage. All reports of representatives of the ministries responsible for economic cooperation (in Russia - the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, in China - the Ministry of Commerce) boil down to listing bilateral or (much less often) multilateral projects that, in fact, have only the relation to the SCO that they involve member countries. None of them is a project involving the SCO itself, they are only bureaucratically rewritten into reports.

Even two so-called "priority pilot projects" in the field of foreign economic and foreign trade activities, approved at a ministerial meeting in August 2006 in Tashkent, began to be implemented even before the connection of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We are talking about the highways Volgograd - Astrakhan - Atyrau - Beineu - Kungrad and Aktau - Beineu - Kungrad as part of the international transport corridor E-40 with the construction of a bridge over the Kigach River (coordinator - Uzbekistan), as well as the development of the transport route Osh - Sarytash - Irkeshtam - Kashgar with the construction of a transshipment terminal in Kashgar for the organization of multimodal transportation (coordinator - China). And yet now the SCO will be given a more significant role in these projects.

Representatives of government agencies usually explain the slow launch of real cooperation mechanisms by the complexity of the decision-making process in an international organization, where everyone has their own interests and it takes a lot of time to agree on a common position. But there are other motives and factors hindering economic cooperation within the SCO, which will be discussed in the next chapter.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization and United States of America.

It is impossible to fully reflect the position of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the international system without considering the relations of the SCO with the United States of America.

At first, the US did not attach any serious importance to the Shanghai process. Some assigned the SCO the role of a discussion club, and nothing more. Others saw it as an attempt by Moscow and Beijing to expand influence in Central Asia, but believed that it was doomed to failure, since both countries have insufficient resources and their interests largely contradict each other. However, after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was sufficiently consolidated and many states of the region expressed their desire to join it, the attitude changed.

The SCO first attracted serious attention in 2005, when one of Washington's main opponents, Iran, as well as close US partners India and Pakistan, received observer status. (Another closely cooperating state with the United States, Mongolia, gained this status in 2006, and even such longtime allies of Washington as South Korea and Turkey expressed interest.) But the declaration adopted by the Council of Heads of State in Astana in June 2005. It contained an appeal to the members of the anti-terrorist coalition to determine "the deadlines for the temporary use of ... infrastructure facilities and the presence of military contingents on the territories of the SCO member countries," "taking into account the completion of the active military phase of the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan."

The initiative to include this clause in the declaration came from Uzbekistan, whose leadership was disappointed by the US proposal to launch an independent investigation into the events of May 2005 in Andijan. But concern about the American presence in Central Asia is characteristic of all member states. They tend to consider the introduction of foreign troops pragmatically, as a measure necessary for the fight against terrorism. The fear is caused by the fact that the United States can use its unlimited military presence not only for the purposes of this struggle, but also pursuing its own selfish plans at the expense of the states of the region.

Uzbekistan stands out against this background in that it generally decided to change its policy of cooperation with the US and the West in general and focus more on Moscow, Beijing and the SCO, which are less concerned about human rights issues. At the request of Tashkent, the American military base was withdrawn from Khanabad. The agreement on its creation, as is known, was reached at the peak of the US-Uzbek rapprochement after the events of September 11, 2001, in order to ensure the actions of the anti-terrorist coalition troops in Afghanistan.

Be that as it may, the Americans' somewhat dismissive attitude towards the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has changed. The reaction followed immediately. On July 19, 2005, the House of Representatives of the US Congress passed a resolution expressing concern over the above-mentioned SCO declaration. In October 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, urging the leadership in Bishkek to retain the international force base at Manas and even allow US personnel withdrawn from Khanabad to be transferred to Kyrgyzstan.

Perhaps an even more important result of this visit was the emergence of the concept of a Greater Central Asia. Its origins are usually found in the article "Partnership for Central Asia", written by Frederick Starr, head of the Institute for Central Asia and the Caucasus at the Graduate School of International Studies. Paul Nitze at Johns Hopkins University.

The main idea of the article is the creation of the Partnership for Cooperation and Development of Greater Central Asia (GCCA), a regional forum for planning, coordinating and implementing a series of US programs. According to Starr, a partnership that promotes trade growth, cooperation and the gradual democratization of the region is made possible by the fact that progress in Afghanistan has created a wonderful opportunity not only for this country, but also for the rest of Central Asia. The United States, Starr believes, now has a chance to help transform Afghanistan and the entire region into a zone of secure sovereign states with viable market economies, secular and open government systems that would maintain good relations with the United States.

In such a partnership, the role of Russia and China would be insignificant. True, Frederick Starr does not rule out that they could join him, having made a significant financial contribution. The possibility of Iran's entry was completely ruled out, unlike Pakistan, and India and Turkey "along with the United States would become unofficial guarantors of sovereignty and stability in the region." Thus, through Afghanistan, the Central Asian states could establish close ties with India and Pakistan, which would diversify international cooperation and weaken the focus on Moscow and Beijing.

On June 13, 2006, just a few days before the SCO summit in Shanghai, the US Trade and Development Agency held the Electricity Across Borders forum in Istanbul. Participants from Central and South Asia presented there the largest new energy infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Representatives of Russia and China were not invited. Obviously, the forum was supposed to demonstrate the new role of the US and Turkey in the development of cooperation between the states of Central and South Asia.

The idea of a Greater Central Asia has caused mixed reactions in the Central Asian states themselves, indifference in Moscow and unease in China. Kazakh Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokayev positively assessed its possible role as a stimulus for scientific discussions, but stressed that his country gives priority to cooperation within the SCO. An expert from Kyrgyzstan, Muratbek Imanaliev, concluded that in Central Asia the new project is considered American, which may cause concern in Moscow and Beijing.

But the most sharply expressed in Beijing. The People's Daily, an official organ of the ruling Communist Party of China, commented that the United States was determined to use energy, transportation and infrastructure as bait to separate Central Asia from the post-Soviet system of dominance. In this way, they will be able to shift the internal strategic focus of Central Asia from the current partnership focused on Russia and China to cooperative relations with the states of South Asia. They are able to destroy Russia's long-term dominance in the Central Asian region, divide and disintegrate the integrity of the SCO, and gradually establish American dominance in the new space of Central and South Asia. However, in the long run, the United States, by creating a "new hot oven", may strategically underestimate other major powers and present the Central Asian states with a choice.

Recently, the situation in Afghanistan has become more complicated, which required the deployment of additional coalition forces there. In this regard, the implementation of the concept of Greater Central Asia in its pure form is much more difficult. At the same time, the American activation in the Central Asian direction, the active participation of representatives of the states of the region, including high-ranking ones, in events carried out in line with the policy of the United States, indicates the emergence of a new situation. The result of insufficient attention to it may be a decrease in the role of the SCO and a weakening of interest in cooperation among some member states, hoping to receive more economic assistance in other ways. This would make it difficult to pursue the general course of Russian foreign policy aimed at building a multipolar world and strengthening interaction in Asia.

The situation should not be dramatized. The US political position in Central Asia, especially after the complications of its relations with Uzbekistan, has been significantly undermined. In most Central Asian states, it is understood that the political orientation towards Washington creates many internal problems. And yet, the image of the United States and other Western countries as successful and wealthy states capable of providing significant financial and economic assistance and in this respect more effective than politically closer Russia and China remains high. In some Central Asian public circles, the economically efficient, politically secular and - to varying degrees - rather harsh regimes of such culturally close states as Turkey and Pakistan, as well as an economically growing India that can create an alternative to a rapidly rising China, are also highly valued. Insufficient activity of the SCO in the economic direction, its slowness in decision-making, as well as its adamant position on non-expansion of membership in it complicates the situation.

Thus, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization determined the goals of its functioning, developed a clear structure of its internal organization, and also determined the main ways of interaction with other organizations and individual countries. The SCO also managed to take its rightful place in the system of international relations, becoming its significant part and having real opportunities to influence the processes taking place both in Central Asia and on a global scale.

3. Problems and prospects for the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The relatively young age of the organization shows that the SCO is at the initial stage of its development, and it will still have a long way to go to effectively achieve its goals. All SCO member countries need to maintain stability and security both internally and along the perimeter of external borders, intensify the solution of socio-economic and other tasks, jointly counter emerging threats and challenges to their existence (both in the military-political and humanitarian, spiritual, economic spheres), which gives the organization an additional demand.

At the same time, disproportions in economic development, location and condition of road and telecommunications infrastructure, different levels of stability of national currencies, incompleteness of political transformations in most member countries, the presence of customs and other barriers between them, remain serious obstacles for the SCO as a component of the emerging Asian security. growing problem of illegal migration. Finally, the energy factor can play both a positive, unifying role (remember the initiative to create an Energy Club within the SCO) and provoke an aggravation of relations between major exporters and importers of fuel and energy resources (Russia, Kazakhstan). We should not forget about such an important and potentially conflict-forming factor as the environmental one.

But the most important obstacle for the SCO seems to be the contradictions in setting priorities in the work of the organization between its largest states - Russia and China. If for the PRC the vector of economic cooperation is of paramount importance, then for the Russian Federation, maintaining stability in the region and combating terrorism and extremism, illegal migration, arms trafficking, and drug trafficking remain priorities. And if the participating countries are faced with a choice between economy and security, then it is likely that not all of them, due to heterogeneity and differences in policy priorities, will choose the same aspect. This can certainly lead to deadlock. There is also no unanimous opinion regarding the admission of new members of the organization: someone is set to accept (for example, Russia), someone is categorically against it (Kazakhstan). As K. L. Syroezhkin correctly notes, “the SCO lacks stability both in relation to each other, and there is no unity in relation to the development of the organization and its priorities”, which can have completely unpredictable (including negative) consequences.

The SCO strives for the universality of its actions through the implementation of various tasks, but so far, apart from the sphere of combating terrorism, it has not created either legislative or institutional mechanisms for their implementation. But such a desire without proper preparation can lead either to a loss of efficiency of the entire organization, or to unjustified distortions in specific segments and cooperation programs.

At the same time, military cooperation within the framework of the SCO has good prospects. So far, it is not developing very quickly, although there are some achievements: defense ministers meet, joint exercises are regularly held. However, according to experts, it is expedient to substantively consider the issue of creating the SCO Rapid Response Force, capable of taking full responsibility for security in the region, so that the presence of extra-regional military contingents to stabilize the situation in Central Asia becomes unnecessary. The SCO peacekeeping forces would also have great prospects. The fact is that the presence of both American troops (albeit under the brand name of the “anti-terrorist coalition”) and Russian troops (including under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization) is perceived by some circles in the states of Central Asia with fear as an attempt by major powers to establish or regain your influence. Chinese troops in the region could also provoke a similar reaction. At the same time, the same Russian and Chinese troops, as part of the peacekeeping forces of a new dynamic organization in which there is no one dominant force, would be perceived in a completely different way.

The second direction in which the SCO member states have their own and invariably unified approach is the fight against the production and sale of drugs. In these states, there is a strong opinion that the situation with the production of drugs in Afghanistan with the arrival of the troops of the anti-terrorist coalition has rather worsened, because the new authorities of Afghanistan are not able to radically change the state of affairs and the flow of drugs to neighboring countries is only increasing, posing a serious threat to their security. Currently, within the framework of the SCO, work has been completed on a draft agreement on cooperation in the fight against illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Another promising area of cooperation, which is becoming more and more distinct, is the economy. The general directions of interaction in this area are formulated in the long-term program of multilateral economic cooperation until 2020, adopted at the first meeting of the Council of Heads of Government on September 23, 2003. A number of proposals were put forward at a meeting of experts in Beijing in November 2003.

Within the framework of the organization, a business council has been created, which includes representatives of not only government agencies, but also business. With its help, under the auspices of the SCO, on the basis of a tender, it is planned to implement large projects that are significant for the national economy of all or several member countries (following the example of UN projects), which will have a great practical and demonstration effect, allowing ordinary citizens to feel real and quite tangible benefits from functioning of the organization. Large companies would also show interest in the SCO as a serious customer. In this direction, projects in the field of infrastructure (for example, transport corridors) and nature protection, especially water use, the most acute problem of Central Asia, can receive the greatest support. However, for the implementation of such projects of a small SCO budget of 3.8 million dollars. The US is clearly not enough. To increase it or attract other sources of financing, the creation of the SCO Investment Fund, which should finance joint projects, may be of particular importance.

Of course, not without over-optimistic forecasts. For example, columnist E. Windisch believes that in the long term, the SCO can turn into a counterbalance to both NATO and OPEC for two reasons: 1) due to the obvious weakness of the UN, the OSCE and other crisis management institutions, which, after the end of the wars are at a loss, trying to define their role in a changed world and belatedly responding to new threats of terrorism, arms smuggling and environmental disasters; 2) due to a radical change in the paradigm of Russia's foreign policy, which returned to the region.

Such countries as India, Iran, Pakistan, and Mongolia show great interest in the activities of the SCO. The issue of expansion is “frozen” for the time being, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future.

Expansion of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Enlargement is one of the main problems facing the SCO. To date, this problem is of decisive importance, since the SCO, firstly, proclaimed itself an organization open to other states. Secondly, up to a certain stage of its development, the SCO can realize the potential of its expansion. In the future, if other states comply with its guidelines, the SCO will not long limit their desire to join the organization. It can be concluded that in the event of successful development of the SCO, many states in the future will express a desire to share the interests of this organization.

Thus, the expansion of the SCO is of decisive importance, and the admission of new states will not only change the number of member countries, but also change a number of aspects of the SCO's activities. It can be said that the expansion of the SCO will further strengthen and consolidate the organization and bring it to a new level. But this expansion may also lead it down a path of weakening and stagnation. Therefore, the expansion of the SCO is not a technical, but a political issue, and it is necessary to demonstrate all the possibilities of expansion.

Further expansion of the SCO may somewhat strengthen the aspects of political geography, from this point of view it is important to expand the SCO in the direction of the peripheral states of Central Asia. Here are such states as Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, the states of the Caucasus, Pakistan, India, etc. Theoretically, these states are potential participants in the expanding SCO. However, for a number of internal and external reasons, the accession opportunities of these states are very heterogeneous.

Turkmenistan, a state located in Central Asia, is the only one in the region that has not joined the SCO. In all respects, this is the closest state to the SCO policy, which has the most tolerant character. However, Turkmenistan pursues a policy of neutrality and does not participate in regional organizations, which is contrary to the SCO guidelines. Besides. Turkmenistan does not express a desire to join the SCO. If in the future Turkmenistan changes its policy towards the SCO, it has every opportunity to join the organization.

Mongolia- The SCO has no particular disagreements regarding this state. In 2004, Mongolia became the first observer country in the SCO. On the other hand, there are no factors of terrorism, separatism, extremism in Mongolia, and this country cannot have a significant impact on the anti-terrorist activities of the SCO. From a geopolitical point of view, Mongolia is considered a state of Northeast Asia and the priority of its policy is focused on international processes in this region.

In relation to the SCO, Mongolia has a unique geopolitical significance. In the northern and southern directions, it borders on Russia and China. In the western and eastern directions - with the countries of Northeast and Central Asia. Thus, it can adjoin all of the above directions. If Mongolia joins the SCO, this will help establish ties with the entire region and create favorable prerequisites for interaction between the SCO member countries in Northeast Asia. Thus, Mongolia has a vital strategic potential in relations with the SCO and is the most important factor in the further development of the SCO.

India and Pakistan show interest in the SCO. These two states are important elements of the international and regional antiterrorist structure. Terrorist organizations operate on the territory of both states, in addition, due to the geographical proximity of South and Central Asia, terrorist organizations here have close relationships, sometimes forming a single whole. Therefore, India and Pakistan will easily find a common language with the SCO in the fight against terrorism.

From the point of view of economic cooperation, South Asia has access to the Indian Ocean, and China, Russia and the countries of Central Asia are interested in exporting their goods through the Indian Ocean. India and Russia have already created a South-North corridor linking Russia with the Indian Ocean, and the countries of Central Asia are considering India and Pakistan as one of the ways to access the sea. Therefore, in the sphere of economic cooperation, India and Pakistan can quite easily integrate into the SCO.

These two countries have a certain weight on the world stage, so their possible entry into the SCO will expand the scope of the organization in the areas of politics, economics, security, cross-border cooperation, demography, culture and others.

But if India and Pakistan join the SCO, a number of problems may arise:

If India joins the SCO alone, it will have a negative impact on stability in South Asia. If only Pakistan enters, this will complicate internal relations between the SCO member states. If they enter at the same time, then without a significant improvement in their bilateral relations, the SCO itself will become a victim of Indian-Pakistani contradictions and mutual attacks.

Both South and Central Asia are part of a vast region with sharp contradictions and complex issues. The accession of India and Pakistan to the SCO may lead to the fact that the center of geopolitical influence of the SCO will shift.

Since both of these countries have nuclear weapons, their admission to the SCO could lead to a dead end in the SCO's efforts to control nuclear weapons.

The specifics of the position of India and Pakistan in the international arena at the present time is such that it is impossible to predict whether these countries will be able to fit into the framework of the SCO.

Iran historically has close ties with the region of Central Asia, it maintains constant ties with the countries - members of the SCO. In addition, the positions of the SCO and Iran on the issue of the Afghan Taliban also coincide. But Iran is located far to the west of the region, and there is a certain geopolitical distance between it and the SCO countries.

Iran is pursuing an independent foreign and domestic policy, which is quite difficult to link with the political line of the SCO. Relations between Iran and the US are very tense, the US has blacklisted Iran, and it is difficult to predict how this confrontation will end. Therefore, the possible entry of Iran into the SCO may lead to a number of problems.

Afghanistan, a country that is most directly related to the security of Central Asia. Even if the Taliban movement is completely eliminated, the greatest threat to the security of the Central Asian states will still come from Afghanistan. That is why the Afghan problem is an object of special attention for the SCO. In 2004, Afghan President Hamit Karzai participated in the SCO summit, during which it was announced that the SCO was paying special attention to the situation in Afghanistan.

However, there are currently many obstacles to Afghanistan's entry into the SCO. The first problem is the US protectionist line towards Afghanistan, which can directly affect the decision on SCO membership. Secondly, the admission of Afghanistan to the SCO would mean that the organization assumes responsibility for achieving security and economic recovery in Afghanistan, while it is not known whether the SCO will have enough resources to achieve these goals. Nevertheless, in the future, with favorable developments in the situation, Afghanistan may well reach the level of compliance with the criteria for membership in the SCO.

There is no doubt that the SCO is a worthy example of a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening regional security, economic progress and expanding integration in various fields while maintaining the national and cultural characteristics of the participating countries. An example capable of turning over time into a model for building a multipolar post-Yalta system of international relations, a balanced, fair and efficient system. Accordingly, the role of the organization in the emerging Asian and world security systems, the search for solutions to global problems becomes all the more valuable.

Conclusion.

7 years after its establishment, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which was originally organized as a multilateral mechanism solely for building confidence-building measures in the military field in the border area, has turned into an influential structure for multilateral cooperation in various fields of mutual interest, and makes a significant contribution to the formation of an Asian The Pacific region is a cooperative system of regional security based on the equal cooperation of the participating countries.

From the concept of common security characteristic of the first stage of the institutionalization of the SCO (1996-2001), the organization evolved to support the concept of security based on cooperation, at the same time it transformed from a discussion club, a high-level forum into a full-fledged international organization with a formalized legal status and many areas of activity .

Within the framework of the Shanghai Five, and then the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a number of important documents were signed that made it possible to create a legal framework for cooperation between the countries of the Central Asian region, to ensure the coordination of their foreign policy and efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism, and to determine the main and main directions of the organization's work. Among the documents are the Agreement on confidence-building in the military field in the border area (1996), the Agreement on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border area (1997), the Bishkek (1999) and Dushanbe (2000) declarations, the Declaration on the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2001) , Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism (2001), Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2002), Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation (2003), Declaration of the Five Years of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2006), etc.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has gradually created a set of mechanisms and agreements to properly ensure stability, stability and security in the region. This gives grounds, despite a number of problems and contradictions between the participants in the vision of the priorities of the work of the SCO, to formulate a cautiously optimistic forecast regarding the prospects for its development.

Trade and economic cooperation is also intensively developing on the basis of mutual benefit and interest. Contacts in the humanitarian sphere are deepening, cultural cooperation is being activated. The SCO is also actively building up external relations, and the authority of the organization is growing. Established official relations with international regional organizations such as the UN, ASEAN, CIS.

Thus, the SCO has achieved significant success in its activities. Its creation influenced not only the expansion of China's border issues with neighboring countries, but also to a large extent contributed to peace and stability in the region, curbing terrorism, separatism and extremism, strengthening economic interconnections, interaction in the industrial, energy, humanitarian spheres between the member countries of the organization. . At the same time, the organization is not a military alliance, but an effective, workable model of regional cooperation based not on friendship against a common enemy, but on mutual trust, mutually beneficial cooperation, joint initiative and security priority.

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13. Starr Frederick, Partnership for Central Asia [electronic resource]. - access mode: http://www.analitika.org/article.php?story=20051122073817435

14. Aris S., Shanghai Cooperation Organization: based on materials from British and American researchers. [electronic resource]. - access mode: http://www.infoshos.ru/?idn=330

15. Voronovich. VV, The evolution of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the context of the formation of the Asian security system. http://evolutio.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1172&Itemid=188

16. Syroezhkin, K. L., SCO: problems and prospects. Asiainform: inform.-analyst. portal. [electronic resource]. - access mode: http://www.asiainform.ru/rusdoc/14822.htm.

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Applications.

Application No. 1

Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the world map.

The SCO member states are marked in dark green

Light green indicates countries with observer status.

Application №2

Brief information about the SCO

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization, the establishment of which was announced on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
The highest decision-making body in the SCO is the Council of Heads of Member States (CHS). It meets once a year and takes decisions and instructions on all important issues of the organization. The Council of Heads of Government of the SCO Member States (CGP) meets once a year to discuss the strategy of multilateral cooperation and priority areas within the organization, address fundamental and topical issues of economic and other cooperation, and also approves the annual budget of the organization.

The Council of National Coordinators of the SCO Member States (CNC) serves as the coordination mechanism within the SCO. The organization has two permanent bodies - the Secretariat in Beijing, the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure in Tashkent. The Secretary General and the Director of the Executive Committee are appointed by the Council of Heads of State for a term of three years. Since January 1, 2007, these posts have been respectively occupied by B.K.Nurgaliev (Kazakhstan) and M.U.Subanov (Kyrgyzstan).
The total area of the SCO member states is about 30 million 189 thousand square meters. km, which is 3/5 of the area of Eurasia, and the population is 1.5 billion people, which is 1/4 of the total population of the globe.

Application №3

SCO General Secretaries.

Zhang Deguang. General Secretary 2004-2006. Born in February 1941 in the eastern province of Shandong. He speaks excellent Russian: in 1964 he graduated from the Faculty of Russian Language and Literature of the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages. Further his career was connected with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Worked as a translator. Then - an employee of the Chinese Embassy in the USSR. After he was sent as an adviser to the embassy in the United States. Until 1993 - Ambassador to Kazakhstan. In 1993-1995 - Head of the Department of Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1995 to 2001 - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. And from 2001 to 2003 - Ambassador to the Russian Federation.

Bolat Nurgaliev. Secretary General of the SCO since 2006. A native of the Akmola region, after graduating from the Tselinograd Pedagogical Institute, he worked in the bodies of the First Main Directorate (intelligence) of the KGB of the USSR.

Collaborated in the Soviet embassies in Pakistan and India. Since 1992, he worked in the system of the Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan. He was the head of the department of international security and arms control, deputy minister. In 1996-2000 he was Kazakhstan's ambassador to Washington. Since 2000, he has served as head of the diplomatic mission in South Korea, and since the end of 2003 - in Japan.

Application No. 4

Organizational structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The whole truth about the Shanghai Five No. 23 (105) dated 06/14/2001 http://www.businesspress.ru/newspaper/article_mId_40_aId_70425.html

Development History of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization http://www.sectsco.org/html/00080.html

Chronicle of the main events within the "Shanghai Five" and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization http://www.sectsco.org/html/00105.html

Declaration of the 5th Anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization http://www.sectsco.org/html/00952.html

Lukin A. Shanghai Cooperation Organization: what's next? http://www.polit.ru/research/2007/07/31/lukin.html

Mamaev Sh. SCO with Iran http://www.politjournal.ru/index.php?action=Articles&dirid=40&tek=5811&issue=164

Frederick Starr. Partnership for Central Asia http://www.analitika.org/article.php?story=20051122073817435

Aris S. Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Based on British and American Researchers. http://www.infoshos.ru/?idn=330

Journal of International Law and International Relations 2007 - 2. The evolution of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the context of the formation of the Asian security system. - Voronovich. V.V. http://evolutio.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1172&Itemid=188

Syroezhkin, K. L. SCO: problems and prospects. Asiainform: inform.-analyst. portal. http://www.asiainform.ru/rusdoc/14822.htm.

T.T. Shaimergenov, G.A. Tusupbaev. The role of international structures in ensuring regional security in Central Asia: prospects for the SCO and NATO. http://www.analitika.org/article.php?story=20071014004111495

Luzyanin S.G. Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Model 2008. http://www.perspektivy.info/oykumena/krug/shanchayskaya_organisaciya_2008-3-28.htm

Windisch, E. In the long term, the SCO wants to become a counterbalance to NATO and OPEC. LentaCom.Ru: Vseros. social-polit. internet gas. http://www.lentacom.ru/comments/3143.html

Zhao Huasheng. Some Problems of Development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization . http://www.infoshos.ru/?idn=429

Yulia Yakusheva: Problems and Prospects of SCO Expansion. http://www.ia-centr.ru/expert/585/

A.M. Vartanyan Why does Iran need membership in the SCO? http://www.iimes.ru/rus/stat/2007/29-08-07a.htm

Labetskaya K. Substantial work with the SCO observer countries has not yet developed http://www.globalaffairs.ru/articles/0/8041.html

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a regional international organization founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. With the exception of Uzbekistan, the rest of the countries were members of the "Shanghai Five", founded as a result of the signing in 1996-1997. between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia and Tajikistan agreements on confidence-building in the military field and on the mutual reduction of armed forces in the border area. After the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the participants renamed the organization.

The total territory of the countries belonging to the SCO is 30 million km², that is, 60% of the territory of Eurasia. Its total demographic potential is one fourth of the world's population (the total population of the countries participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: 1 billion 455 million people), and if we take into account the population of India and other observer countries, then the number of inhabitants of countries directly related to The SCO will be slightly less than the entire population of the globe, and the economic potential includes the most powerful Chinese economy after the United States.

One of the features of the SCO is that in terms of status it is neither a military bloc, like NATO, nor an open regular security conference, like the ASEAN ARF, occupying an intermediate position. The main tasks of the organization are to strengthen stability and security in a wide area that unites the participating states, the fight against terrorism, separatism, extremism, drug trafficking, the development of economic cooperation, energy partnership, scientific and cultural interaction.

Article 15 of the Charter determines the legal capacity of the organization. The SCO as a subject of international law has international legal capacity. It shall enjoy in the territory of each Member State such legal capacity as is necessary for the realization of its aims and objectives.

The SCO enjoys the rights of a legal entity and can, in particular:

- conclude contracts;
- acquire movable and immovable property and dispose of it;
- act in courts as a plaintiff or defendant;
- open accounts and make transactions with funds.

Decisions in the SCO bodies are taken by agreement without a vote and are considered adopted if none of the member states objected to them during the agreement process (consensus), with the exception of decisions to suspend membership or expel from the Organization, which are made on the principle of "consensus". minus one vote of the Member State concerned".

Any Member State may express its point of view on certain aspects and/or specific issues of decisions being made, which is not an obstacle to making a decision as a whole. This point of view is recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

The decisions of the SCO bodies are executed by the member states in accordance with the procedures determined by their national legislation (Article 17 of the Charter).

Control over the fulfillment of the obligations of member states to implement the Charter, other treaties operating within the framework of the SCO and decisions of its bodies is carried out by the SCO bodies within their competence.

The member states, in accordance with their internal rules and procedures, appoint their permanent representatives to the SCO Secretariat, who are part of the diplomatic staff of the embassies of the member states in Beijing.

The SCO and its officials enjoy on the territories of all member states the privileges and immunities that are necessary to perform the functions and achieve the goals of the Organization.

The scope of privileges and immunities of the SCO and its officials is determined by a separate international treaty.

The official and working languages of the SCO are Russian and Chinese.

To fulfill the goals and objectives of the SCO Charter, the Organization operates:

· Council of Heads of State;
· Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers);
· Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs;
· Meetings of heads of ministries and/or departments;
· Council of National Coordinators;
· Regional antiterrorist structure;
· Secretariat.

The Council of Heads of State may decide to establish other SCO bodies. The creation of new bodies is formalized in the form of additional protocols, which come into force in accordance with the procedure established by Article 21 of the Charter.

The Council meets for regular meetings once a year. The chairmanship at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State shall be carried out by the head of state - the organizer of the next meeting. The venue for the next meeting of the Council is determined, as a rule, in the Russian alphabetical order of the names of the SCO member states.

The Council meets for regular meetings once a year. The meeting of the Council is chaired by the head of government (Prime Minister) of the state in whose territory the meeting is held.

The venue of the next meeting of the Council is determined by prior agreement of the heads of government (prime ministers) of the Member States.

The chairmanship of the Council shall be exercised by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Member State of the Organization on whose territory the regular meeting of the Council of Heads of State is held, for a period starting from the date of completion of the last ordinary meeting of the Council of Heads of State and ending with the date of the ordinary meeting of the Council of Heads of State.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs represents the Organization in the implementation of external contacts in accordance with the Regulations on the Procedure of the Council.

In accordance with the decisions of the Council of Heads of State and the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers), the heads of sectoral ministries and/or departments of the Member States hold meetings on a regular basis to consider specific issues of developing cooperation in relevant areas within the framework of the SCO.

The chairmanship is carried out by the head of the relevant ministry and / or department of the state - the organizer of the meeting. The place and time of the meeting will be agreed in advance.

For the preparation and holding of meetings, by prior agreement of the Member States, working groups of experts can be created on a permanent or temporary basis, which carry out their activities in accordance with the work regulations approved at meetings of heads of ministries and / or departments. These groups are formed from representatives of ministries and/or departments of member states.

The Chairman of the Council of National Coordinators, on behalf of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, may represent the Organization in external contacts in accordance with the Regulations on the Procedure for the Council of National Coordinators.

The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the States Parties to the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism of June 15, 2001, located in the city of Tashkent (Republic of Uzbekistan), is a permanent body of the SCO.

The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent body of the SCO headquartered in Tashkent, designed to promote coordination and interaction between the competent authorities of the parties in the fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism. It has the status of a legal entity and the right to enter into contracts, acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property, open and maintain bank accounts, initiate claims in courts and participate in legal proceedings. These rights are exercised on behalf of the RATS by the director of the RATS Executive Committee. The main functions of this body are to coordinate the efforts of all SCO member states in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism - the development of proposals for the fight against terrorism, the collection and analysis of information, the formation of a database of individuals and organizations that provide support to criminals, assistance in the preparation and carrying out operational-search and other measures to combat these phenomena, maintaining contacts with international organizations. RATS consists of the Council and the Executive Committee (a permanent body). The Council, which includes the heads of the competent authorities of the countries of the Organization, is the decision-making governing body. The Chairman of the RATS Executive Committee is appointed by the Council of Heads of State.

The Secretariat is the main permanent executive body of the SCO and provides coordination, information and analytical, legal, organizational and technical support for the activities of the Organization, develops proposals for the development of cooperation within the framework of the SCO and international relations of the Organization, monitors the implementation of decisions of the SCO bodies.

The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary General, who is approved by the Council of Heads of State on the proposal of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

The Secretary General is appointed from among the citizens of the Member States on a rotational basis in the Russian alphabetical order of the names of the Member States for a period of three years without the right to renew for another term. From January 1, 2010 - Representative of Kyrgyzstan M.S. Imanaliev.

The Deputy Secretaries General are approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers on the proposal of the Council of National Coordinators. They may not be representatives of the State for which the Executive Secretary is appointed.

Secretariat officials are recruited from among the citizens of the Member States on a quota basis.

In the performance of their duties, the Secretary General, his deputies and other officials of the Secretariat shall not seek or receive instructions from any Member State and/or government, organizations or individuals. They must refrain from any action that could affect their position as international officials responsible only to the SCO.

Member States undertake to respect the international nature of the duties of the Secretary-General, his deputies and the staff of the Secretariat and not to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

The seat of the SCO Secretariat is the city of Beijing (People's Republic of China).

Until 2006, there was no post of Secretary General, instead of it there was an institution of an executive secretary, who formally could act only on behalf of the SCO Secretariat. There is an opinion that it is necessary to restructure the SCO Secretariat into a more independent executive body, due to the lack of sufficient rights and funding at the moment. While the executive bodies in the UN, NATO, the CSTO and other organizations are relatively independent and, therefore, are able to develop the agenda of their organizations themselves, come up with initiatives and even facilitate the adoption of their initiative proposals by the leadership of the member states, the SCO Secretariat does not really lead organizational work, which, in fact, is handled by the Council of National Coordinators. As a result, the staff of the Secretariat must coordinate any issue with the national coordinator of the country that sent it, and that one - with the national coordinators of other countries. This is not conducive to building institutional ethics in the Secretariat. It turns out that, in fact, the SCO Secretariat is not an independent body of an international organization, but a team consisting of national representatives.

The SCO has its own budget, which is formed and executed in accordance with a special Agreement between the member states. This Agreement also determines the amounts of contributions that Member States make annually to the budget of the Organization on the basis of the principle of equity participation.

Budget funds are directed to finance the permanent bodies of the SCO in accordance with the above-mentioned Agreement. The Member States bear the costs associated with the participation of their representatives and experts in the Organization's events.

Decisions in the SCO bodies are made by consensus. The procedure for the work of all the bodies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was finally developed and adopted in 2003, at the Moscow summit. The main structures of the organization began to work in January 2004, after which this association functions as a full-fledged international organization.

Thus, by the time of writing the work, the members of the organization are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Observer states - India, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan.

Dialogue partners - Belarus, Sri Lanka.

Those who received invitations to the summits of the SCO heads of state are Afghanistan, the CIS, ASEAN, the UN, the EurAsEC, the USA.

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