Cooperation on security As of 2023, the SCO is primarily centred on security-related concerns, describing the main threats it confronts as being
terrorism,
separatism and
extremism. It has addressed regional
human trafficking and
weapons trafficking and created terrorist blacklists. In October 2007, the SCO signed an agreement with the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, to broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking. As of 2010, the organisation was opposing
cyberwarfare, saying that the dissemination of information "harmful to the spiritual, moral and cultural spheres of other states" should be considered a "security threat". An accord adopted in 2009 defined "
information war", in part, as an effort by a state to undermine another's "political, economic, and social systems".
The Diplomat reported in 2017 that SCO has foiled 600 terror plots and extradited 500 terrorists through RATS. The 36th meeting of the Council of the RATS decided to hold a joint anti-terror exercise, Pabbi-Antiterror-2021, in Pakistan in 2021. At the summit in
Astana, Kazakhstan, in July 2024, the SCO called for the creation of a fair, multipolar world order based on the key role of the United Nations, international law and the aspiration of sovereign states towards a mutually beneficial partnership.
Military activities ,
Vladimir Putin,
Nursultan Nazarbayev and
Islam Karimov As of 2009, the organisation's activities expanded to include increased military cooperation,
intelligence sharing, and
counterterrorism. At the same time, leaders of SCO states repeatedly stated that the SCO was not a military alliance. As of 2023, the SCO had not provided military support in any actual conflicts. There have been a number of SCO joint military exercises. The first of these was held in 2003, with the first phase taking place in Kazakhstan and the second in China. Since then China and Russia have teamed up for large-scale war games in
Peace Mission 2005, Peace Mission 2007 and Peace Mission 2009, under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. More than 4,000 soldiers participated at the joint military exercises in Peace Mission 2007, which took place in
Chelyabinsk, Russia near the
Ural Mountains, as was agreed upon in April 2006 at a meeting of SCO defence ministers. In 2010, Russian defence minister
Sergei Ivanov said that the exercises would be transparent and open to media and the public. Following the war games' successful completion, Russian officials began speaking of India joining such exercises in the future and the SCO taking on a military role. Peace Mission 2010, conducted 9–25 September at Kazakhstan's Matybulak training area, saw over 5,000 personnel from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan conduct joint planning and operational maneuvers. The SCO has served as a platform for larger military announcements by members. During the 2007 war games in Russia, with leaders of SCO member states in attendance including Chinese leader
Hu Jintao, Russia's president
Vladimir Putin used the occasion to take advantage of a captive audience. Russian strategic bombers, he said, would resume regular long-range patrols for the first time since the
Cold War. "Starting today, such tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on the strategic scale", Putin said. "Our pilots have been grounded for too long. They are happy to start a new life". In June 2014, in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, the idea was brought up to merge the SCO with the
Collective Security Treaty Organization. However, as of late 2022, in the wake of
Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many SCO and even CSTO members had distanced themselves from military cooperation with Russia.
Economic cooperation In September 2003, a Framework Agreement to enhance economic cooperation was signed by the SCO member states. At the same meeting the
premier of China,
Wen Jiabao, proposed a long-term objective to establish a
free trade area in the SCO, while other more immediate measures would be taken to improve the flow of goods in the region. A follow-up plan with 100 specific actions was signed one year later, on 23 September 2004. In October 2005, during the Moscow Summit of the SCO, the Secretary General of the Organisation said that the SCO would prioritise joint energy projects; including in the oil and gas sector, the exploration of new
hydrocarbon reserves, and joint use of water resources. The creation of the
SCO Interbank Consortium was also agreed upon in order to fund future joint projects. In February 2006, the first meeting of the SCO Interbank Association was held in Beijing. In November 2006, at
The SCO: Results and Perspectives, an international conference held in Almaty, the representative of the
Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia was developing plans for an SCO "Energy Club". in November 2007, Moscow reiterated the need for this "energy club" at an SCO summit. Other SCO members, however, did not commit themselves to the idea. During the 2008 summit it was stated that "Against the backdrop of a slowdown in the growth of world economy pursuing a responsible currency and financial policy, control over the capital flowing, ensuring food and
energy security have been gaining special significance". At the 2007 SCO summit, Iranian vice president
Parviz Davoodi addressed an initiative that had been garnering greater interest when he said, "The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a good venue for designing a new banking system which is independent from international banking systems". President Putin included these comments: We now clearly see the defectiveness of the monopoly in world finance and the policy of economic selfishness. To solve the current problem Russia will take part in changing the global financial structure so that it will be able to guarantee stability and prosperity in the world and to ensure progress. The world is seeing the emergence of a qualitatively different
geo-political situation, with the emergence of new centers of economic growth and political influence. We will witness and take part in the transformation of the global and regional security and development architectures adapted to new realities of the 21st century, when stability and prosperity are becoming inseparable notions. , Russia in 2009 In June 2009, at the Yekaterinburg Summit, China announced plans to provide a US$10 billion loan to other SCO member states to shore up the struggling economies of its members affected by the
2008 financial crisis. The summit was held together with the
first BRIC summit, and the China–Russia joint statement said that they want a bigger quota in the
International Monetary Fund. In 2014, the
Eurasian Economic Union was founded in which Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members. During the 2019 Bishkek summit,
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan suggested taking steps to trade in local currencies instead of U.S. dollars and setting up financial institutions including an SCO bank. In June 2022, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari suggested creating a single SCO currency to facilitate trade and financial transactions among SCO members. As part of the SCO's economic agenda, it has established a relatively successful student exchange program called the SCO University. An SCO Arts Festival and Exhibition was held for the first time during the Astana Summit in 2005. Kazakhstan suggested an SCO
folk dance festival to take place in 2008, in Astana.
SCO+ The SCO+ forum format was initiated by the
United Russia party in October 2020. This format includes inter-party interaction not only of the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (members, observers, candidates) but also of the
CIS and
BRICS countries. It was first used during the SCO+ international inter-party forum "Economy for People" on 22–23 October 2020. The forum was attended by speakers from 25 countries, including the chairman of the United Russia party,
Dmitry Medvedev, ministers of the SCO countries, Serbian president
Aleksandar Vučić, and ambassadors and diplomats of the CIS and BRICS countries. Russian president
Vladimir Putin sent greetings to the forum participants. ==RATS Military exercises==