DUSHANBE, August 20, Asia-Plus — The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Bishkek capital was successful and adopted a very important document – a treaty on long-term good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation of the SCO member nations, Sayfullo Safarov, the deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the President of Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
Safarov is also quite optimistic of Tajikistan’s holding SCO in 2008. “Tajik is able to cope with this task successfully and there are real opportunities that relations between the Organization member nations will considerably strengthen next year and the SCO itself will probably expand,” Tajik expert said, naming Turkey, “which in no way is admitted to the European Union,” as one of potential candidates for joining the Organization
Asked about Russian president Vladimir Putin’s initiative to establish the SCO University, Tajik political scientist assessed it as positive and noted that considers that this project could be implemented in Tajikistan. “Dushanbe is located in the center of the SCO area and it would expedient to establish the University here,” said Safarov, “Tajikistan’s Institute of Languages could become a proper basis for the SCO University”
In the meantime, Tajik independent expert Rustam Haidarov considers that the SCO summit in Bishkek “was another working meeting of the SCO leaders and it has yielded no any appreciable results for Tajikistan.”
“Tajikistan does not have a status of superpower, and therefore, it cannot influence on SCO’s policy,” Haidarov said, commenting on perspectives of Tajikistan’s holding the SCO chairmanship.
“Tajikistan has just been obliged to join the SCO, and it cannot dispute its interests within the SCO while the Russian-Uzbek tandem dominates there,” said Haidarov. “Our country will try to implement projects aimed at providing its energy safety, but it will scarcely make success in this case within the Organization.”
“I believe the Shanghai Cooperation Organization does not have any perspectives and the sooner Tajikistan leaves the SCO the better,” Haidarov said.
