Against the backdrop of the rise of anti-globalization thoughts and the intensification of global development imbalance, the regional cooperation mechanism has shown unique value in promoting the coordinated linkage of all parties and promoting sustainable development. Lu Shanbing, director of the Silk Road Research Institute of Northwestern University, pointed out in an exclusive interview with China News Service that as a regional cooperation platform covering the Eurasian continent, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has become a key force in promoting regional economic integration and responding to global uncertainty.

Connecting with the "Belt and Road" to promote regional construction and upgrading

Infrastructure interconnection is an important foundation for promoting regional economic integration. In the past few years, the SCO has achieved in-depth docking with the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative, vigorously promotes "hard connectivity" among member states, and significantly drives the upgrading of infrastructure construction of member states.

Lu Shanbing pointed out that within the framework of the SCO, the initiative to jointly build the "Belt and Road" proposed by China has received widespread recognition and support from member states, and the SCO has become an important platform for promoting the organization and exchanges and cooperation for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative.

"The construction of China-Kyrgyzstan-Ukraine railways, the construction and operation of China-Central Asia natural gas pipelines and China-Kazakhstan and China-Russia crude oil pipelines, and the normalization and efficient operation of China-Europe freight trains are all landmark highlights of the mutual empowerment of the SCO and the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative." Lu Shanbing told reporters that now, the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative is closely integrated with the SCO, and has initially formed a composite infrastructure network covering highways, oil and gas pipelines and railways. It not only becomes an important link to connect various member countries, but also effectively promotes the interconnection of regional economies.

The "multifunctional" platform injects momentum into regional diversified development

With the acceleration of infrastructure "hard connectivity", the demand for regional diversified development is becoming increasingly prominent. In recent years, in order to effectively respond to the needs of diversified development of member countries, the SCO has created multiple functional cooperation platforms, which has become an important driving force for knowledge sharing, capacity advancement and technical cooperation among member countries.

Lu Shanbing said that the multifunctional cooperation platform represented by the "SCO Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base" and "China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Zone" is continuing to inject new impetus into the SCO.

He pointed out that these platforms not only deepen the cooperation between member countries in the fields of economy, trade, agriculture, humanities, etc., but also promote the quality improvement and upgrading of regional economic, trade and production capacity cooperation, help member countries adapt to changes in competition, and extend cooperation to a wider field and deeper level, which strongly supports sustainable development. At the same time, the platform also supports young scientific and technological talents to participate in sustainable development projects and cultivate green innovation forces with an international perspective.

Theme Year Activities Promote Regional Sustainable Development

The fundamental goal of deepening diversified cooperation is sustainable development and common prosperity in the region. Against the backdrop that sustainable development has become a global consensus, the SCO actively responded to the concerns of the times and set 2025 as the "SCO Year of Sustainable Development".

As the SCO's rotating chair for 2024 to 2025, China is focusing on holding a series of activities around the theme of "SCO Year of Sustainable Development" and continuously strengthen policy coordination and collective actions of member countries on global issues such as climate response, energy transformation, development financing, poverty reduction, public health, and digital economy.

In Lu Shanbing's view, the practice of Chinese-style modernization can provide important reference for the SCO's regional sustainable development. The goals and paths that China's high-quality development rely on are highly consistent with the SCO's vision of solving development problems and achieving common prosperity.

Looking to the future, Lu Shanbing believes that under the uncertain international situation, the SCO will continue to play a greater role in promoting regional sustainable development and contribute a practical "SCO solution" to global governance with a continuously improved cooperation model and continuously deepened pragmatic cooperation. (over)