ISLAMABAD: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a cooperation body, not a defense bloc, and functions almost like a "mini world organization" given its membership's scale, Pakistan's Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan has said, as Islamabad prepares to assume its chairmanship.
Speaking on Pakistan TV Digital's South Speaks with Saqib from Bishkek, Ambassador Altamash Wazir Khan said Pakistan takes the chair for the first time since becoming a full SCO member in 2017.
He rejected any framing of the bloc as built to counter the West.
"Nobody needs to be scared of this organization. It doesn't have any kind of collective responsibility per se. It's not a defence organization, it's a cooperation organization," Khan said, pointing to its focus on humanitarian, cultural and economic cooperation.
He said the SCO's scale sets it apart from other regional groupings, with ten members that include four nuclear-armed powers and one of the world's largest economies.
"If you look at the area that its member states cover, if you look at the GDP, if you look at the population, then you would really realise that even though it's a regional organisation, it's almost a mini world organization," he said.
He said the chairmanship rotates in Russian alphabetical order, passing to Pakistan after Kyrgyzstan, marking Pakistan's first time holding the senior Council of Heads of State chair, having held the lower Council of Heads of Government chair in 2024.
Khan said Pakistan's year in the chair will involve roughly 100 meetings before a Council of Foreign Ministers meeting Pakistan chairs and a Council of Heads of State summit about a month later.
On Pakistan's geography, Khan called the country a natural connectivity hub for the region, citing Gwadar, Karachi and Port Qasim as the nearest marine access for Central Asian states.
"We are geostrategically located and we are a gateway to all the Central Asian countries. We provide them the nearest marine access," he said.
He cited a memorandum he negotiated giving Kyrgyzstan access to those ports as an example of the connectivity agenda he expects Pakistan to pursue more widely during its chairmanship.