Baku, Azerbaijan, March 14
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan has officially received the status of a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The country signed a memorandum for granting the SCO dialogue partner status March 14. This has become the country's another diplomatic success on international arena.
The dialogue partnership will allow Baku not only to establish successful practical cooperation with the SCO member-states on a fundamentally new level, but also significantly affect the work of this authoritative organization.
The fact is that the SCO is an example of a unique international institute. A variety of cultures, ethnicities and religions is represented there. The organization includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have the observer status. Sri Lanka and Turkey have the dialogue partner status.
Azerbaijan, known for successful implementation of a multiculturalism model and the most important initiatives in combating terrorism, can make an important contribution to the activity of the organization.
As is known, the main objectives of the SCO are: strengthening the mutual trust and good neighborhood between the member states; assisting in their effective cooperation in political, trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural spheres, as well as in education, energy, transportation, tourism, environmental protection and other fields; jointly ensuring and maintaining peace, security and stability in the region; promoting the creation of a new democratic, fair and rational international political and economic order. Baku fully shares all these goals.
The most important principles of working with the SCO for Azerbaijan include respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, measures for fighting terrorism, extremism and separatism. These principles are very important for Azerbaijan which has been suffering from the occupation of its territories by Armenia for over 20 years already.
By adopting Ufa declaration in June 2015, the SCO member states reiterated their commitment to all norms and principles of the international law on mutual inviolability of borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-interference in internal affairs, restraining from using or threatening to use force.
A chance to attract the attention of another influential international organization to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a good opportunity for Baku to urge Yerevan to take responsibility for the occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
In addition, Baku's participation in the SCO cooperation mechanisms will also allow the country to establish not only political, but also economic ties with the SCO member countries even easier than it is today.
Azerbaijan already has close friendly ties with the SCO member countries on a bilateral basis. Russia can also be mentioned here, the relations with which are regarded by Azerbaijan as a strategic partnership and the trade turnover with which increases year by year.
The countries of Central Asia, with which Baku has historically developed traditionally friendly relations, can be mentioned here as well. China is also a very important partner of Baku on the SCO, and Azerbaijan develops multiple transport projects with this country.
Azerbaijan supports the "Silk Road Economic Belt" project initiated by China, and in addition, itself is the initiator of the transport corridors "East-West" and "North-South".
Today, when transit opportunities of Azerbaijan increase, after the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, the two countries will become an uncontested bridge between East and West.
No other initiatives, which could be implemented in the region, as for example the Iran-Armenia transport corridor initiative, simply won't have any financial or geographical sense.
Thus, cooperation within the framework of the SCO will create for Azerbaijan new opportunities for successful development of cooperation with both the member countries and the organization itself on a bilateral and multilateral basis.
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Elmira Tariverdiyeva is the head of Trend Agency's Russian News Service, follow her on Twitter @EmmaTariver