Shanghai Cooperation Organization Secretary General Visits RI

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The Secretary-General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Dmitry Fedorovich Mezentsev is currently in Jakarta, Indonesia to meet with ASEAN Secretary General in Jakarta, Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister AM Fachir as well as the Head of Regional House of Representatives Irman Gusman.

The organization in which he runs, consists of predominantly Eurasian countries such as Russia, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It has recently stretched its scope of network by extending opportunities of dialogue- partner status to countries like India and Pakistan.

The Shanghai-based organization which establishment was formally avowed back in 2001 envisions a growing cooperativeness in the combat against terrorism and other forms of threat akin to that as well as easing barriers to mutually lucrative economic and trade exchanges among participating nations.

There are three segmented issues that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization sought to address.

The first one is security and stability with focus placed predominantly on the prevention, containment and eradication of extremism, separatism, illegal distribution of firearms and other types of weaponry, elicit drugs and illegal migration.

The second one is concentrated primarily upon the sectors of economy and trade. Cooperation in these two particular sectors is deemed necessitated as to strengthen the relation among participating nations. Thus, the endeavor to overcome issues will not be the only focus underlining the organization, but an attempt at deepening cooperation is also of paramount importance.

The realization of such cooperation can be seen from the Memorandum of Understanding signed back in 2014 among governments of member countries in the organization to construct a transportation route starting from Eastern part of China all the way through to the Western part of European region. The third is for these members to cooperate more closely in the cultural and tourism sector.

"All participating nations are different in terms of their scales, structures and national economy. Their cultures are also different from one another with differing political systems governing the countries," said Dmitry Mezentsev during press briefing held at the official residence of Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Mikhail Galuzin on December 3, 2015.

"It has been collectively agreed upon by all participating countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that the notion of respecting each other is principal and despite the blatant differences, cooperation ought to be conducted in addressing issues," he continued.

According to Dmitry, the organization has already gotten 10 requests of cooperation and membership but Indonesia is not among them. However, he asserts the fact that AM Fachir has already expressed Indonesia's interest to cooperate in the fight against terrorism. He is hoping that the archipelago state will soon realize the benefits of acquiring membership in the organization.