Spotlight: Kyrgyz official, experts hail SCO's achievements, great potential

Official and experts from Kyrgyzstan have spoken highly of the achievements made by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), saying the organization is very "promising" and has great potential.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Economy Arzybek Kozhoshev said the SCO has proved to be one of the strongest and most promising organizations in the world.

Kozhoshev said the accession of Pakistan and India to the organization will be among the key issues to be discussed at the upcoming SCO Summit, which is slated to be held on June 23-24 in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent.

The total population of SCO members will soon be more than half of the global population, he said.

The minister said that he hopes to see the economic component of the SCO prevail and that the economic integration of the SCO countries will be deepened.

"In particular, a couple of months ago, we discussed in Moscow the issue of a free trade zone between China and the Eurasian Economic Union countries. I think there are very good prospects," Kozhoshev said.

He also applauded China's role in the SCO and voiced support for the Belt and Road Initiative advocated by China, saying that the initiative is an effort to bridge the East and the West.

The minister's view is echoed by many experts and analysts in the country.

"The SCO originally defined its main objective to ensure peace and stability in the region, and we can say that in general, this task is fulfilled," said Dmitriy Orlov, head of Kyrgyzstan's analytical center "East-West Strategy."

The organization has big potential, and it has done much to establish the Eurasian principles of openness, trust and mutual respect among countries, Orlov said.

"It is impossible not to mention the anti-terrorist and anti-drug interaction, which eventually is getting better. Over the years of its existence, the SCO has shown the willingness and ability to solve these problems," added the expert.

In the eyes of Denis Berdakov, deputy director of the office of Kyrgyzstan's Foundation "Eurasians -- The New Wave," the forthcoming SCO summit is another attempt to expand the organization's directions and to increase its efficiency.

"Today, we can see the new initiatives and new projects are put forward by the organization. This is the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Certainly, China plays a dominant role in the SCO and here we can see a kind of expansion of the organization," said the expert.

Berdakov also suggested that, in order to ensure safety and counter threats, the SCO need to strengthen the work with the general public.

"And if the organization wants to maintain stability in the region, it's necessary to develop educational and even information component. There is a need to work with online media, youth leaders and civil society, but not only with the elites," he added. Endi