Experts’ views on Shanghai Cooperation Organization (4) how to improve SCO international influence?

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.

"The priority for SCO to enhance its international prestige is to find suitable direction, namely, the economic cooperation. Initially, the SCO is established to combat regional security uncertainties and boost regional cooperation," said Xiong Lili, a professor at University of International Business and Economics, in an exclusive interview with Peoples Daily.

He pointed out that the security concerns in member states have been greatly resolved through nearly 20 years of coordination. It is convincing that no major conflicts will furtherbreak out among member states, guaranteeing a better condition for SCO today to focus on issues with more realistic significance, including closer economic ties, which are essential to tackle prevalent trade protectionism.

Xiong noted that after its expansion in 2017, SCO has become a greater multilateral platform for countries to avoid misunderstanding and deal with divergent national interest, especially for China and India, whose mutual trust could be promoted through dialogue in SCO.

Compared to the first summit in 2001, China has played a more active role and it is expected to contribute more proposals to global governance, which will benefit its member states and the international community, said Xiong.