Growth stimulation

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao both made keynote speeches at the conference on Monday, which was attended by the other member states: Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan - with countries such as Iran, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan (participating with observer status), and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan (participating with guest status) waiting on the sidelines and the US and Turkey considering participating in future conferences. Pakistan's application for membership has been under review since 2006. Iran and India have also applied for membership.

Putin and Wen called for major investment in infrastructure in the Central Asian region to stimulate growth. Putin named a two billion dollar power transmission project as a key priority and said Russia was ready to contribute a fourth of the capital. He was not to be daunted by the eurozone crisis, nor by the difficulties of the world economy.

The SCO members should concentrate on their own economies, Putin said. He even extolled "our ambitious goal of turning our organization into one of the basic agencies for constructing the global economic and political future." But he had a less generous message for the European Union countries facing economic difficulties: they could not expect price cuts on Russian gas, Putin made it clear.

The dynamics of growth

Wen's emphasis was again on infrastructure development in Central Asia, especially by way of energy and transport, i.e. roads and pipelines. He also suggested that the participating countries should use their own currencies for direct payment in bilateral transactions, thereby avoiding the use of major international currencies.

To observers, it might seem that the dynamics of growth of the SCO as an organization might soon be lending it a political weight which might overshadow both its security aspects as well as economic benefits by far. The St. Petersburg summit was followed up by a regional security summit in Moscow which saw Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing the Western nations of hypocrisy vis-à-vis the recent revolutions in North African countries, since the "arrogant world powers" had supported the previous regimes. He was merely echoing a term used by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in St. Petersburg. Both warned the West against a military strike on Iran.

Author: Arun Chowdhury (dpa, afp, Reuters)
Editor: Sarah Berning