ASEAN and SCO: opportunities and perspectives of interaction

According to assessments of most analysts, the Asia Pacific region will soon become the world "axis" and primary "driving
force" of economic development. Today, Asia Pacific is home to over 60% of the world's population, and its economy accounts
for almost 28% of global GDP.

Not only does it constitute the most significant share of the world economy, but it also has the highest conflict potential. For
this reason, maintaining peace and stability in the region becomes an indispensable prerequisite for obtaining sustainable
growth in this vast space. In this view, the very effective mechanism for discussing and resolving issues such as countering
threats and challenges in the region is the Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN. ASEAN shares similarities with
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in certain aspects of its regional activity.

With positive and progressive changes in the region, ASEAN has grown into the most influential regional organization in Asia: it
has a population of over 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers and a combined gross domestic product of
about $1 trillion.

Since its establishment, on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, ASEAN has expanded its membership from five to ten member states,
with Timor-Leste currently a candidate for full membership and Papua New Guinea holding observer status.
The main political document of the organization, viewed as "the key code of conduct for interstate relations and interaction in
the region," is the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) that spells out the fundamental governing
principles of ASEAN.

The ASEAN Charter, a historic agreement to establish the legal and institutional framework for ASEAN as the premier
intergovernmental organization of the region, was signed on November 20, 2007 at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore by
the leaders of the ten ASEAN member states. In view of remarkable successes of ASEAN over the past 40 years, as outlined in
the Charter itself, ASEAN Secretary General H.E. Ong Keng Yong named it "a document that merits launching a new era of
ASEAN."

The ASEAN leaders resolved to establish by 2015 the ASEAN Community, comprising three pillars, namely, the ASEAN
Economic Community (AEC) based on the 1992-created ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA); the ASEAN Security Community
(ASC), which builds on the 1994-established ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), uniting 27 participating states and 17 association
partners, including Russia, the EU, the United States, China, Japan and India, and being "the pivot in building peace and
security in the region" as well as the primary forum for political and security cooperation; and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural
Community (ASCC). The pillars are so structured for the future Community to have one voice, one identity, and one vision to
counter potential challenges.

ASEAN views its major goals as the acceleration of economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region;
the promotion of regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationships
between its members and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter. The Association intends to further exert its
efforts in asserting its core role in Asia.

One of major direction in ASEAN's activity is promoting its relations with key dialogue partners in the Asia Pacific region, and
with regional organizations by framing such relationships into partner dialogues. Current such partnerships include: the 10+3
dialogue, consisting of ASEAN plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea; 10+6 - ASEAN plus China, Japan, the Republic of
Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand; and the so-called East Asian Summit (EAS).

To date, eight meetings have been held in the ASEAN+3 dialogue format and three under the EAS framework, of which the last
meetings produced firm commitments from the dialogue partners to create the East Asian community within the period 2015-
2020, in order to further build on the strong foundation of the EAS forums.

In 2002, China and ASEAN signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, the end goal of which
is to create a Free Trade Area between China and the ASEAN nations. According to Chinese analysts, the ASEAN countries
made good use of the momentum that evolved from China's economic boom, and by establishing the Free Trade Area and
forging close economic linkages with China have gained dividends from this timely regional opportunity. Reciprocally, through
cooperation with ASEAN, China has become the most important player in Southeast Asia. In 2003 and subsequently in 2005,
ASEAN concluded similar framework arrangements with India and the Republic of Korea. The November 2007 negotiations to
finalize the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership (scheduled for signature by early 2008) between ASEAN and
Japan have also been successfully completed. Thus, ASEAN, on its part, is consistently promoting multilateral cooperation in
Asia.

In recent years, issues of countering terrorism through, among other things, establishing security dialogues have been at the
core of ASEAN's activities. The SCO was formally founded in 1992 by the Shanghai Five, including the Russian Federation,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Tajikistan, and was later endorsed on the basis of the historical Shanghai Agreement on
Enhancing Military Trust in Border Regions (1996) and the Moscow Agreement on Mutual Reduction of Forces in Border
Regions (1997.) It is an organization for multifaceted cooperation whose major goals and objectives are reflected in its Charter,
a document stating the establishment of the Organization in June 2002. The goals of the SCO include, inter alia, the
development of multilateral cooperation to maintain and enhance peace, security and stability in the region; promotion of
effective regional cooperation covering areas of politics, trade, economy, defense, law enforcement, environmental protection,
culture, science and technology, education, energy, transportation, finance and other spheres of common interest for the SCO.
In August 2007, during the 7th Summit in Bishkek, the SCO's main document, the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship
and Cooperation was signed.
With the post-Soviet countries successfully handling complex issues of defense and cross-border cooperation with China, the
SCO has significantly expanded its own scope of interests. Undoubtedly, the interaction of enforcement bodies for purposes of
ensuring regional security, stability and the rule of law in the region are of primary importance for the SCO because of the
urgent need to effectively respond to current risks and threats. The signing of the SCO Convention on Combating Terrorism,
Separatism and Extremism in 2001 was a success on this front. Following similar goals, the Regional Antiterrorist Structure
(RATS) was established in 2004 as a permanent body of the Organization, and its operation is now well underway.
In regard to enhancing regional security and stability, the SCO has on its agenda today issues such as establishing an able
mechanism for its operational response to environmental and man-made emergencies. The need to file a single register of
terrorist organizations and of individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities and also prospects for further
expanding cooperation within the SCO beyond its functional areas, potentially, to the sphere of migration are also on the
current agenda.

New trends of activity in the SCO framework are being actively explored, including promotion of trade and economic ties;
investment; cultural and humanitarian exchange; collective agreement on ways and means of rational use of natural resources
and of environmental protection. Especially promising, in our view, is the cooperation in areas of energy, transportation and
transit. In essence, the SCO countries have all the necessary conditions, namely, vast fossil reserves, mature network of export
outlets, rapidly developing petroleum industry infrastructure and electric power grids. In this regard, Kazakhstan suggests
adopting the Asian Energy Strategy to create the SCO's unified energy market, enabling a more efficient internal use of
resources within the SCO. It also suggests establishing zones of cross-border trade between member states through effective
coordination of the Action Plan for Prospective Development of Cross-Border Territories, and through the joint use of
infrastructure and transport and communications networks.

While noting the latest trends in the development of the SCO, the internationally increasing international influence of the
Organization deserves special attention. During 2004 and 2005, Mongolia, India, Pakistan and Iran became observers in the
organization; Belarus, Nepal and Sri Lanka made their desire to be observers known. Because relevant legal mechanisms have
not been developed yet, there is a moratorium on new membership for now. However, the Secretariat and the SCO member
states are currently working together to elaborate forms of cooperation that could be mutually acceptable for both member
states and observers. In 2004, the Organization itself underwent the procedure of obtaining observer status at the UN General
Assembly, and it now maintains ongoing regular contacts with ESCAP and UNDP. Within the period of 2005-2007, the
memoranda on mutual understanding between the SCO and ASEAN, the CIS, EurAsEC and the CSTO have been finalized;
similar documents are currently being processed between the SCO and the ECO and CICA.

The SCO is a novel organization, with no historical baggage inherited from the Cold War era; as such it is open to cooperate
with other poles in international politics. Evidence of this is provided by the ongoing rapprochement between the SCO, EU and
OSCE as well as with other organizations.

Two and a half years have passed since signing on April 21, 2005 the Memorandum on Mutual Understanding between the
Secretariats of the SCO and ASEAN, determining major trends of cooperation and interaction in the areas of economy, finance,
tourism, environmental protection, use of natural resources and social development, including cooperation in the energy sector
and on issues related to combating transnational crimes.
Undoubtedly, given globalization processes, the document offers new opportunities for widening and deepening mutually
beneficial cooperation between the two institutions, in favor of the ASEAN and SCO member states. However, practical
implementation of provisions of the memorandum has yet to commence, and will begin only after the parties have elaborated,
through consultations and negotiations, the concrete forms, methods and mechanisms of interaction. In view of this, the SCO
member states tasked the Secretariat of the Organization during the ministerial consultations held on November 21, 2007 in
Dushanbe to develop, in the near future, a practical plan to implement the memorandum and to submit it for approval.
Besides their pursuit of similar goals in a number of areas such as defense, politics, economy, environment and the
humanitarian sphere, both organizations have been recognized within the international community as legal personalities, have
signed and sealed founding documents and have adopted major political agreements such as on friendship and cooperation.
Moreover, the member states of the SCO and ASEAN are linked to one another and bound by geographic location and by
common vision for the Asia Pacific region. Participants in both organizations are eager to enhance peace and stability in their
respective functional areas and to establish mutually beneficial cooperation in economy, transportation, culture and tourism.
ASEAN is interested in adapting a broader multifunctional lever offering a variety of forms, instruments and mechanisms for
interaction. To this end, ASEAN, with 40 years of experience, could view the SCO as an important conduit for the Asia Pacific
region to engage with the rest of Asia. At the very least, it can provide more general help to such a relatively young structure
as the SCO.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that in the modern world the role of regional organizations has become more significant;
and as their number grows, the competition among them becomes tougher. Recognition of these tendencies reveals a
particular way of countering contemporary risks and threats, that is, instituting partner relations between various institutional
formations in the Eurasian space, namely, the OSCE, SCO, ASEAN and CICA. The Dialogue of Cooperation in Asia (DCA), the
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Eurasian Economic Cooperation (EurAsEC) are also among these. In this realm of regional
institutions the SCO and ASEAN, as the largest amongst them, would have to eventually become stronger segments of "the
security belt" between Europe and Asia.

An accession to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is envisaged in Kazakhstan's plans for the coming year. The accession of
Kazakhstan, an active member of the SCO, one of the founding members and currently acting chairing state of CICA, and also
the candidate for the 2010 presidency of the OSCE, will be a crucial step towards constructing the mutually reinforced bridge of
stability, and will usher in new opportunities for regional interaction.