MINSK, 3 April (BelTA) – All the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states have finished ratifying the memorandum that stipulates Belarus’ obligations as part of the organization. Head of the China and Asian, Pacific Cooperation Office of the Central Office for Asia, Africa, and Latin America of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vadim Senyuta mentioned it during an expert roundtable session held in the Kazakh embassy in Minsk to discuss the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s uniting potential in the emerging multipolar world, BelTA has learned.
Vadim Senyuta stressed that since the memorandum has been ratified, Belarus is now in the final stage of accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization because the last legal procedures relating to Belarus’ obligations to accede to the SCO’s international commitments were completed in early January.
The diplomat said: “We have finished this process and have informed the secretariat about it. All the SCO member states have ratified the memorandum on Belarus’ commitments, which paved the way for the consequent finalization of the process. Belarus’ accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has not been prompted by the spur of the moment. It is a persistent step in realizing priorities of Belarus’ foreign policy.”
Vadim Senyuta went on saying: “We watch the organization and see how its influence grows as well as the international community’s interest in it. At present the SCO family already includes 26 states, including dialogue partners. They account for about a third of the world GDP, a larger part of Eurasia, and 42% of Earth’s population. The combined natural gas reserves of the SCO countries make up 35% of the world’s reserves. The SCO countries also possess 22% of the total oil reserves. SCO countries account for over 70% of Belarus’ trade turnover.”
Since its inception in 2001 the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has gone through several stages in its evolution. It was transformed from a political organization that dealt mostly with security matters into a multipurpose organization with an increasingly active economic component and a cultural and humanitarian component.
“Belarus views the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as the key international platform for determining concrete mechanisms for advancing cooperation in counteracting the threats of terrorism, extremism, organized crime, and drugs trafficking. The country is in favor of enhancing the economic dimension of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an important factor in stepping up stability in the Eurasian region,” Vadim Senyuta stressed.
In his words, Belarus participates in all the dimensions of the organization’s work: politics and diplomacy, trade and economy, culture and humanitarian affairs. Among the 40 agreements and treaties Belarus has acceded to as part of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Vadim Senyuta mentioned the agreement on good neighborhood, friendship, and cooperation of 2007, which stipulates that the negotiating party shall not belong to unions or organizations that are directed against other negotiating parties and shall not support actions that are inimical to other negotiating parties.
Acceding to this agreement that involves such important international community members as Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Iran, and other countries may be an essential element of multilateral security guarantees.
