Astana, July 4—Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, will host the Summit of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Independence Palace—one of the critical events under the Chairmanship of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This makes this year’s summit quite significant, as Belarus will become an entire member country, and the number of SCO member states will increase to ten.

The SCO Summit will bring together an impressive group of world leaders. As part of the summit, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan, India, Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus will convene. Again, present are leaders from observer states and dialogue partners such as Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, UAE, Türkiye, and Turkmenistan.

The heads of the United Nations (UN), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Eurasian Economic Community (EEC), and the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) will also attend.

Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif is in Astana to attend the summit, and a high-power delegation is scheduled to hold meetings with world leaders. He has already met President Putin and pledged to boost mutual trade to 1 billion dollars.

Pakistan became a full member in the same city, Astana, in 2017 when Nawaz Sharif participated in the meeting.

Indian PM Modi has decided to skip the meeting on a flimsy pretext that many analysts believe indicates that India doesn’t want to be too cosy with the organization headed by China. Last year, while India hosted the SCO summit, it changed it into a virtual meeting to avoid the presence of Pakistani and Chinese heads of government in Delhi. Next year, China will host the SCO summit.

Kazakhstan assumed the chair of the SCO in July 2023, and the President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, identified critical priorities meant to promote regional security and economic cooperation. During Kazakhstan’s chairmanship, the SCO took up the torch of the theme “On World Unity for a Just Peace and Harmony,” focusing on confidence-building to ensure stability under the current pressure from global geopolitics.

The leaders are expected to approve the Astana Declaration, 20 resolutions, and three critical statements at their summit. Other important issues to be addressed include the approval of the program “On World Unity for Just Peace, Harmony and Development” and “On SCO Improvement,” discussion on how to enhance multilateral cooperation, consideration of international and regional problems, and how to improve the comprehensive multi-dimensional collaboration inside the SCO.

The most important outcome of the summit, whereby Belarus’s accession has been worked out as a full member status in SCO, is a historic move in the sense that it paves the way for expanding the organization’s membership. Such a change signals the need for the SCO to have an increasing say on the international stage at a critical time when international relations seem to worsen by the day.

Along with the main summit, an extended “SCO Plus” meeting will be held under the slogan “On World Unity for Just Peace, Harmony and Development.” This meeting intends to create a platform for dialogue between member states and observer countries of the SCO. Attention is to be paid, especially to expanding spheres of cooperation and ways to jointly overcome existing threats to sustainable development and peace​ (Kazinform).

The Press Centre of the Summit will be situated at the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, which will provide full technical support to all media representatives.

Accredited journalists will be able to register directly at the entrance to the Center on the morning of July 4. Operations at the event will work in a well-regulated mode to provide comprehensive coverage of the event. The Press Centre will telecast all events, excluding the closed meeting of the Council of Heads of the SCO Member States, in line with SCO regulations​ (The Astana Times). The detailed program for the summit will feature delegations’ arrivals, joint photography sessions, the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, a signing ceremony for final documents, and the SCO Plus meeting. The summit will end with a press release by SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming​ (The Astana Times).

Kazakhstan’s visionary approach during its chairmanship has been lauded, in particular, by SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming. Since the beginning of the leadership, more than 100 events have been organized by Kazakhstan, including forums on energy, digital, and tourism, as well as more than 30 documents in the different fields of cooperation. One of the main projects Kazakhstan has pushed is the creation of a SCO Investment Fund and an economic preferences base, representing, according to information provided by The Astana Times, the very concept of “hot economics, cold politics”​ (Kazinform)​​.

The summit in Astana will be an important event that should draw many points for defining the organization as a critical factor for regional cooperation and a contributor to global issues. With almost half of the world’s population and combined gross domestic product over $23 trillion, its power is surging. The entry of Belarus into this league is a severe matter of development and depicts the resolve of the SCO towards attaining comprehensive regional development (Kazinform).

The country’s leadership keeps pressing that the only way out of the contemporary problems of the global world is through practical, cooperative solutions.

2024, “Year of Ecology” will be on top of the strategic program, supported by all member states through the initiative that will dictate a strong move towards sustainable development. Initiatives against terrorism, separatism, and extremism programs are to be passed during the summit to be taken up for discussion along with SCO anti-drug strategy ​(Kazinform).

The World is watching Astana closely as world leaders gather there for the SCO Summit. What is decided and announced here will determine the future direction of regional and international cooperation. The SCO Summit 2024 will be a big step not only for Kazakhstan’s chair but also for intensive collaboration and unity at the regional and global levels.