Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Samarkand to pay a state visit to Uzbekistan and attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, on September 14 (XINHUA)

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the city of Samarkand late on September 14 to pay a state visit to Uzbekistan and attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). 

That he chooses to physically join the SCO Samarkand Summit shows the significance he attaches to this organization, Swaran Singh, a professor of international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said in a written interview with Beijing Review. 

"President Xi may like to share ancient Chinese wisdom in refurbishing the post-World War II global financial governance architecture that must respond to new ground realities to ensure their representativeness as well as their relevance and remit," Singh said. "In that sense, SCO represents a more modern paradigm and has lessons for many of these other post-World War II organizations," he added.   

The SCO Samarkand Summit is taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine crisis, which are driving global disruption, especially the emerging energy crisis. With major energy suppliers and consumers sitting together, all parties are expected to explore strategies to stabilize food and fuel shortages and raging commodity price rises across sectors. They of course are also expected to initiate action in areas of other priorities like countering terrorism, climate change mitigation, drug-trafficking, transnational crimes and ensuring stability in Afghanistan, the Indian expert said. 

Prior to his Uzbekistan visit, President Xi spent half a day in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan, on September 14.  

It was in Kazakhstan that Xi first announced a Silk Road Economic Belt vision that has since evolved into the Belt and Road Initiative, involving trillions of dollars of investments in nearly 150 nations. According to Singh, Xi may use this trip to promote his recently announced two global initiatives: the Global Security Initiative and the Global Development Initiative.  

"Both represent a next step in the BRI and are firmly grounded in President Xi's vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity," Singh said. 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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