Policy Brief #52/2024
The role of Central Asian countries in regional and global political processes has increased significantly recently. Russia and China have contributed to this growth more than any other extra-regional player, diversifying their trade and economic ties with Central Asian countries, demonstrating an interest in strengthening their “sustainable security.” At the same time, the fact Russia, China, and most of the countries in the region are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization allows the SCO to be viewed as a platform for conducting multilateral dialogue on the issue.
The first step towards developing the appropriate support measures for Central Asian countries is to decide on the main areas for ensuring “sustainable security.” Concepts adopted by Central Asian countries all share a similar vision of their thematic priorities — economic and public security. The second step is to find common ground for exchanging experience and scaling up national practices by identifying opportunities within an inter-state and, in particular, a multilateral framework. In terms of economic and social cooperation, water and energy security and stable state development in the region could prove to be this very common ground. These are the factors that will allow Moscow and Beijing, together with the region’s countries, to use their experiences and apply pre-emptive actions in the Central Asian space to ensure “sustainable security”. As in many other cases, political will of the participating countries and state support are key when it comes to implementing such initiatives. State support can be enhanced by involving platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the decision-making process.
Whatever the case may be, maintaining security in the Central Asian region, and indeed in Eurasia as a whole, requires collective efforts in order to solve the most serious problems in individual SCO member countries. Expanding multilateral cooperation in Central Asia will also help strengthen the SCO itself and allow it to adapt to the new geopolitical reality, which calls for tighter partnerships to jointly counter external challenges.
Policy Brief #52/2024
The role of Central Asian countries in regional and global political processes has increased significantly recently. Russia and China have contributed to this growth more than any other extra-regional player, diversifying their trade and economic ties with Central Asian countries, demonstrating an interest in strengthening their “sustainable security.” At the same time, the fact Russia, China, and most of the countries in the region are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization allows the SCO to be viewed as a platform for conducting multilateral dialogue on the issue.
The first step towards developing the appropriate support measures for Central Asian countries is to decide on the main areas for ensuring “sustainable security.” Concepts adopted by Central Asian countries all share a similar vision of their thematic priorities — economic and public security. The second step is to find common ground for exchanging experience and scaling up national practices by identifying opportunities within an inter-state and, in particular, a multilateral framework. In terms of economic and social cooperation, water and energy security and stable state development in the region could prove to be this very common ground. These are the factors that will allow Moscow and Beijing, together with the region’s countries, to use their experiences and apply pre-emptive actions in the Central Asian space to ensure “sustainable security”. As in many other cases, political will of the participating countries and state support are key when it comes to implementing such initiatives. State support can be enhanced by involving platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the decision-making process.
Whatever the case may be, maintaining security in the Central Asian region, and indeed in Eurasia as a whole, requires collective efforts in order to solve the most serious problems in individual SCO member countries. Expanding multilateral cooperation in Central Asia will also help strengthen the SCO itself and allow it to adapt to the new geopolitical reality, which calls for tighter partnerships to jointly counter external challenges.
The Role of the SCO in Ensuring Water and Energy Security, 1.6 Mb
