The essay, "SCO as a New Model of Successful International Cooperation," concerns the fundamentals of its existence and suggests the "Shanghai spirit" concept will be consistently updated as the organization develops. With Putin's essay apparently the first in the line, let's search for keywords.

From the very start, writes Putin, "It was... clear that the underlying principle of our work would have to be that peace and economic progress in the vast region where we all live would only come through a multilateral partnership of countries that comprise it."

Several paragraphs further down, he highlights the need to "avoid unnecessary duplication and parallel action, working for our common interests without any 'exclusive' clubs and lines of divide" and reiterates that "the SCO is open to dialogue and ready for joint efforts for the sake of peace, stability, and development."

This leaves a careful reader with one important opposition: members of the organization designed to stabilize and develop Central Asia, on the one hand, are ready to take responsibility for the region, while remaining open to cooperation, on the other.

The list of possible partners - who are, and Putin states that openly, observer nations - includes India, Pakistan, Iran, and Mongolia, the countries where the essay was published and which, therefore, are the most likely target audience. Admitting that "a record of joint operation" has yet to be created, he at the same time highlights their "involvement" with the SCO.

Of course the SCO model is far from new. One success story is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, set up in 1967 in the region to the south of China and east of India. To forge their own system, SCO founding fathers have in fact plainly taken ASEAN's template, well-tested by 39 years on the international stage.

ASEAN's relevance is due as much to the political environment of those days - caught amid the United States' big fight against Chinese-led communist expansion, smaller countries badly wanted a tool to stand up for their interests - as to the Southeast Asians' commitment to seek partners without isolating their own economic space, clearly a more appealing option than that of the "united Europe."

Like any other gathering, ASEAN underwent a transition in the 1990s when a well-structured network of international ties was added to the principle of balance between major powers. As ASEAN's five wealthy founding nations, such as Singapore, Thailand and others, granted membership to five not so affluent states like Vietnam and Cambodia, they built partnerships with all major players in Asia.

This is where ASEAN's record resembles that of the SCO.

ASEAN made a point of ranking partners by their compatibility with the Southeast Asian philosophies, which probably explains why Russia and China rank higher on their list of partners than entities like the European Union or the United States. The SCO's inner structure and system of external partnerships are, as we see, very similar, with three wealthy - China, Kazakhstan, and Russia - and three not-so-wealthy - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - members on the inside and a telling league of observer nations on the outside.

What contributes to the high credibility of such a structure is that aid from the more advanced to the less fortunate comes not for charity but for the sake of solid common interests of all six nations.

Maintaining this structure, however, is not easy and takes immense patience and prudence. Relations between big and small, wealthy and poor nations are tarnished by history that tells stories of colonial rule and political pressures - admittedly, the United States will spring to many minds but the American record on this count is, in fact, hardly worse than Russian or European - as well as fair commonwealths and unions; and by many other factors that contribute to what has been fairly described as the "conflict of civilizations."

This is where reading Putin's essay really pays off. He highlights the SCO's effort to develop communication between the adherents of Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity and therefore between their cultures. "We are developing this dimension," writes the Russian president, "on a strong basis of our nations' unique civilizational record and their enormous contribution to the global cultural heritage."

Putin also calls for ties "in which national and cultural identities will not be lost," a phrase that conveys a clear political message, a warning against forced planting of the democratic tree in other civilizational soils, which has already proved disastrous in Central Asia and elsewhere. Against this background, "no pressure" cooperation guidelines will be far more appealing.

There is also awareness that the key factor of international appeal is economic prosperity. In this light, Putin's words about "great expectations" vested in the SCO's ability "to mastermind viable joint projects" look like an internal call for the Shanghai summit and the prime ministers' economic meeting scheduled for the Tajik capital Dushanbe this fall to show relevance and efficiency.

As the Russian president said, the SCO can "qualitatively upgrade its own cooperation and contribute to resolving global issues." It is already being done, and faster than in many other regions.

Dmitry Kosyrev is a political commentator for the RIA Novosti news agency. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited

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