The development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the SCO is important because the Caspian region is an important element of transport routes between the East and the West, including the Silk Road, The chief researcher at the Center for Studying and Forecasting Russian-Chinese Relations of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies Vladimir Petrovsky stated in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza.
"At the upcoming summit in Tashkent, the issue of giving the status of a dialogue partner to Azerbaijan, Armenia and, if I remember correctly, to Cambodia and Nepal, will be resolved. After that, after some time, they may become observer states, why not? The SCO is becoming more and more attractive organization and more countries wish to participate in its work in one way or another. There is such a concept as "the SCO family", which includes the SCO member states, observers and dialogue partners. Now Azerbaijan will be among them," he said.
"Such cooperation is interesting because it takes place in the framework of creation of the Silk Road Economic Belt, which has several transport and logistic routes. One of them is currently tested - the one that connects China and Europe through Azerbaijan and the Caspian region. We will see how effectively will this transport and logistic route work, how loaded will it be, will it be economically efficient and will investments return or nor. This is one of the options that is currently developed. Let's see how it goes," the expert noted.
"Certainly everything related to the Caspian region is an important element of the economic connection to the project of the Silk Road, because there are so-called Northern corridors, which start in China and pass through Kazakhstan to Russia via Trans-Siberian Railway, and Southern corridors, which will pass through Xinjiang Uygur district to India, and possibly through the Caspian region to the Persian Gulf. The Caspian region will be \very important from the transport and logistic point of view, though not a simple one, because if we are talking about how to deliver cargoes through the Caspian region, this is an extra overload, unnecessary customs procedures. It is necessary to resolve technical and logistical issues, obviously," Petrovsky added.
The development of interaction between the SCO and such state as Iran is very important. "The probability of accession is quite high, but I think it will happen after the accession of India and Pakistan, because it is a difficult process, thanks to which the SCO will obtain a new experience. The expansion of this organization will happen for the first time, and it will have to comprehend this process, comprehend the experience that has been gained at the level of its leading institutions. After taking into account this experience, the issue of Iran's accession will be resolve, because this matter, of course, is long overdue," he thinks.
"In fact, very good prospects are associated with the fact that Iran will certainly become a member of the SCO in the near future," he concluded.
