Postcard from Bishkek

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, (SCO – known in Russian as ShOS, the Shanhayskaya Organizatsiya Sotrudnichestva), was created in 2001 by the Shanghai Five, (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), and Uzbekistan who asked to join the organization.

It is a permanent intergovernmental organization  which aims to coordinate joint policies in political, economic and military spheres; the main purposes of which are:

• strengthening mutual trust and good-neighbour relations among member states;
• promoting their effective cooperation in political affairs, economy and trade, scientific-technical, cultural, and educational spheres as well as in energy, transportation, tourism, and environment protection fields;
• joint safeguarding and presenting regional peace, security and stability;
• striving towards the creation of democratic, just, reasonable new international political and economic order.

The Shanghai Five had signed a treaty on strengthening military trust in border regions in the city of Shanghai in 1996 – and hence the name – and the following year they signed another treaty aimed at reducing military forces in border areas.  Since then, however, the composition of the organization, and its remit, have enlarged somewhat.

In addition to the formal members, there are five countries that have Observer status, (Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan), three “Dialogue Partners”, (Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey), and representatives of ASEAN, (the Association of  the South East Asian Nations), the CIS, (the Commonwealth of Independent States) and Turkmenistan are are entitled to attend its proceedings as “Guest Attendances”.

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The main  thrust of their cooperation between the member states is their mutual security and the prevention of “emergency situations”, however, they undertake work in a number of other areas as well.

At the moment Kyrgyzstan holds the presidency of the organization …  and one of the priorities they set for their term of office was the further development of economic cooperation.  The organization has set up a Business Council and Interbank Association and expert groups have been formed to establish a special development fund and work has also been undertaken by the appropriate organs of the organization on international road haulage.

Kyrgyzstan has also taken a lead in coordinating the anti-drug trafficking work of the organization.

I was interested to see that “as a top-priority task”, the organization’s website refers to establishing “simplified border crossings” and I presume that includes work on simplifying and coordinating efforts on visa policies.  Whereas I hope that may help to make life easier for travelers, I hope and trust it will not mean that we will have to give up some of the ground that has been won in the struggle to establish and extend our “visa free regime”.

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The headquarters of the organization, housing the secretariat, are located in Beijing but regular meetings are held at he level Head of State, Head of Government, at the Ministerial level.  The annual summit of the Heads of State rotates around the member countries – and this year it is the turn of Kyrgyzstan to host the meeting which meets in full session tomorrow.

It’s not the first time we’ve hosted the summit … the last time was in 2007 when a mass of construction to create conference facilities and accommodation for the visiting VIP dignitaries was undertaken – with support, ion particular, from China.  Last year, Bishkek also saw the summit of the Heads of Government, (for the second time – the first was in 2004), and from time to time Ministerial summits are held either here or Issyk Kul.

Incidentally: this is the first time in the history of the organization when both the meeting of the Heads of Government and Head of State summit were both held in the same country.

They are going to be busy with a hole host of documents and agreements to be signed.  Most of the work in preparing them has already been done by officials so the fact that the summit only lasts a day shouldn’t present any difficulties or surprises.  There should, however, be plenty of time for the social and cultural events that are planned to keep the delegates entertained.

I suppose it is a great honour to host such a gathering … receiving eight presidents, heads of state, and two deputy Secretary-Generals of the United Nations for the occasion – in fact there will be more as they will each be accompanied by delegations,  other dignitaries, members of the press and so forth.

In fact, there are going to be over 1200 people in Bishkek for the event – and that is just in the official delegations, (at least one being more than a hundred strong and needing seven planes to get here).  There will also be some 350 journalists covering the event among them.  They will be outnumbered by police … one report suggested two and a half thousand police have been drafted in to maintain security, but another says over three thousand will be on duty “serving in emergency mode” with another two thousand on stand by … “in alert mode”.  I suppose that is normal given the scale of the events.  As the authorities said: “Bishkek police apologizes to all citizens for the inconvenience and hope that all citizens will understand the introduction of a forced measure.”

However, many of Bishkek’s residents are apparently not so sure about that.  We already have the experience of previous summits and that has taught us that for period of the summit, getting around the city and daily life is going to be much more difficult than usual.

I am not sure, however, how far three thousand police will stretch … we have two sitting in the hotel, all day, every day, in two shifts … that’s four officers for just one small hotel … mind you they seem to be joined from time to time by lots of others “doing the rounds”.  The local coffee shop has one officer stationed there … and, like hotels, coffee shops seem to sprouting up all over the city … so quite a few officers seem to be spoken for already.  But … the classic moment came as I was walking to the hotel yesterday morning … at one of the city center crossroads I counted seventeen police officers directing the traffic – both vehicular and pedestrian – I joke not!  Each of them, it seemed, with a whistle which was blown loudly in short bursts, as they waved their arms at the traffic … and when the whistles were actually being blown, the officers shouted at the drivers creating a discordant cacophony.  And that was at just one intersection.

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For those of us in the hospitality industry, you might think it is a boon … guaranteed record occupancy levels. With virtually all the hotel accommodation in the city was booked by the authorities several months ago, we have been in the embarrassing situation of not only having turn people away, but also having had to tell them that there are no rooms available, not just in our hotel, but in the city as a whole.  (It’s reminiscent of Bethlehem at the time of the Roman Census, when the only accommodation a carpenter from Nazareth and his expectant wife could find was in a stable – the trouble is that in modern day Bishkek, we don’t have that many stables).

As it happens, the hotels are full for just one or two days … and the dynamics of occupancy are such that we are expecting a quiet period immediately after the delegates have all departed.

Perhaps the biggest problem that people are likely to face is being able to get around town.

As a normal course of events, traffic is called to a stop whenever the President drives from A to B, in order to let his cavalcade pass by securely.  We have been told that the main streets in the city center are to be closed to traffic … and we’ve been advised to find alternative routes … and even asked to consider not using our vehicles in the city center for the duration of the summit.  Those that do venture onto the streets are likely to find themselves in long traffic jams – much worse than are usual in the already congested city – especially if their route goes anywhere near the streets that have been closed for the duration.

 

I am not sure if it is connected with the summit, but an international military exercise, (called Nature 2013) is also being held in the country at the moment … technically, it is supposed to be aimed at improving “practical skills” in security, providing assistance in emergency situations and testing procedures.  Maybe it’s the cynic in me … but I couldn’t help wondering, given the number of high ranking visitors we have, if the emphasis isn’t more on “security” rather than “exercise”.

 

Well, at least we know it is just once every six years … and with the prospect of the more members joining the organization, it could well be even longer before we next have to face such levels of disruption … at least as far as ShOS is concerned … but then, there’s always the CIS and a host of other international organizations to which Kyrgyzstan belongs …

 

 

Tags: In_the_News, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan