Expectations run high for the upcoming SCO summit 2018

Experts’ views on Shanghai Cooperation Organization (3) what to expect for the upcoming SCO Summit 2018?

As the world largest international organizations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has nearly 3 billion populations, accounting for one-third world population, and its total GDP exceeded $16 trillion after its first expansion in 2017.

The SCO Summit 2018 is scheduled to be held from June 9 to 10, attracting worldwide expectation about China’s role in the world as well as the future of world.

People’s Daily offered you a guide to understand SCO with interviews with leading international relations experts who believe the SCO summit will promote a more impartial and open world.

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The SCO could widely promote the Shanghai Spirit through dialogues and treaties. After the financial crisis in 2008, there were dramatic changes in international community with more emerging economies on the rise. After its expansion in 2017, SCO has largely increased its international standing and discourse power, hence it can be expected that the SCO Summit 2018 can provide an effective dialogue mechanism for member states to resolve regional security concerns and further boost free trade across the Eurasian continent, said Guan Xueling, a professor at Renmin University of China. 

Guan noted that Qingdao, the host city of 2018 SCO Summit, can demonstrate the booming Chinese economy and great achievements of 40-year reform and opening up, as it marked the first time for the summit to be held outside a major city like Beijing and Shanghai.

"I think the Belt and Road Initiative may be included in the Qingdao Declaration. This can be the first highlight we can expect. Issues related to economic cooperation, say regional cooperation, the construction of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and global governance issues are also important. I think all this should be included in the Qingdao Declaration," Guan said.