The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will call for a "just multipolar world order," Vladimir Putin said - a phrase aimed at the United States' supremacy, which he decries.
The SCO is meeting today for a summit involving several countries that have strained relations with the West, including China and Russia, AFP reported.
In their final declaration, the member states will underline their "commitment to the formation of a just multipolar world order based on the central role of the United Nations, international law and the aspiration of sovereign states to a mutually beneficial partnership," Putin announced at the opening of the plenary session in Astana, the Kazakh capital.
For the Russian president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who is also attending the summit, this "multi-polar" world is conceived as an alternative to the American hegemony over world affairs, which they condemn.
Putin, especially since his invasion of Ukraine, has stepped up his efforts to unite the countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America around this idea.
The SCO, which was established in 2001 but has been gaining momentum in recent years, has so far had 10 member states (China, India, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan). Today Belarus, Russia's main ally, has become the tenth country.
"It is in our power to break down the walls of the unipolar world, to feed the people, to put an end to many of the contradictions and conflicts caused by social inequality and shortages of food and resources," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said. | BGNES
