COOPERATION AMONG THE SCO COUNTRIES IN THE HUMANITARIAN SPHERE: EXISTING PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Abstract
The humanitarian aspect is just as important as the economic and political components of the state’s activity in terms of ensuring national interests at the international level. The concept “international humanitarian cooperation” includes interstate cooperation in cultural, scientific, information, sport, tourism, and other issues1 and serves both individual and universal interests. No state can develop in an unfavorable environment without a high level of medical and educational development that guarantees people a dignified standard of living. Full-fledged humanitarian interaction can only develop in an atmosphere of trust and friendship among nations and helps, in turn, to gradually remove any negative perceptions of other national cultures from people’s minds.
The culture of society as a whole and its tolerance toward other nationalities presuppose that a nation stands psychologically strong against such contemporary problems of mankind as terrorism and extremism and make it possible to resolve them by peaceful means.
Humanitarian cooperation is also of application-oriented relevance. For example, the knowledge of language, culture, and traditions of another nation make it possible for states to interact more successfully in order to ensure security.
Recognizing the importance of humanitarian cooperation, national power structures and international organizations are investing large amounts of money in its development. Many states are practicing the policy of “cultural diplomacy,” which envisages exporting their culture abroad, working with compatriots living in other countries, and hiring foreigners, thus pursuing the goal of creating a positive image for the country and raising its authority at the international level. For example, Germany allots impressive funds for this purpose—in 2008, 658.1 million euros, or 23% of the Foreign Ministry’s budget, were spent to this end.2
Unfortunately, the Russian government underestimates the importance of this vector in the state’s activity. When comparing the different approaches to the humanitarian sphere, we will take a look at the possible ways to raise efficiency and improve cultural cooperation within the framework of the SCO.
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See: Tolkoviy entsiklopedicheskiy slovar’, Norid, St. petersburg, 2006, p. 485.
See: N. Pavlov, ‘Kultura-tretye izmerenie vneshnei politiki,” Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn’, Moscow, No. 8-9,2008.
Although practical cooperation was also realized earlier. For example, in May 2005, an Institute for the Study of the Chinese Language and Culture was opened in Tashkent. The same year, students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan began studying at the Northwest University of China.
Official website of the SCO [http://www.sectsco.org/redirect.asp?id=25&id_temp2=25&LanguageID=3].
A. Vlasov, E. Poteeva, “Obrazovatel’nye reformy v stranakh ShOS,” available at [http://www.ia-centr.ru].
See Art 19 of the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States, Bishkek, 16 August, 2007.
[http://www.russian.xinhuanet.com/russian/2006-06/14/content_265844.htm].
Information from an international conference held on 5 October, 2005, Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty.
U.N. news website [http://www.un.org/russian/news/fullstorynews.asp?newsID=5636].
See: E. Safronova, ShOS: k novym rubezham razvitiia, RAS Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Moscow, 2008,pp. 161-184.
Kazakhstan is exerting efforts to rehabilitate the Small Aral, Uzbekistan, in order to rehabilitate the ecosystem in order to fixate the moving sands of the Aral’s coastal plain.
Joint communiqué of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO Member States. 2004.
Speech by B. Nurgaliev at a conference on the problems of the Aral Sea, Tashkent, 11-12 March, 2008, available at [http:.//www.sectsco.org].
Nursultan Nazarbaev’s speech at the Bishkek summit, 16 August, 2007, available at [http://www.sectsco.org/
edirect.asp?id].
Speech by B. Nurgaliev at a conference on the problems of the Aral Sea, Tashkent, 12 March, 2008.
In Pakistan and Saudi Arabia there are approximately 1,500 students, in Egypt around 600, and in Iran around 70.
An OSCE center opened in Dushanbe in 1993, in Tashkent in 1995, and in Almaty and Bishkek in 1998.
In June 2003, it was transformed into the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).
See: P. Goncharov, “Iran vozvrashchaetsia v Tsentral’nuiu Aziu,” RIA Novosti, 25 August, 2006.
This scale does not reflect all the specifics of the factors of influence on Russia’s national interests, but it presents a general review of the influence of each of the countries.
Declaration of the Fifth Anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Shanghai, 15 March, 2006.
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