The ‘New Delhi Declaration’ released at the conclusion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State meeting hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has slammed the use of “unilateral” economic sanctions.
“They (the SCO members) stressed that the unilateral application of economic sanctions, except those adopted by the UN Security Council, is incompatible with the principles of international law and has a negative impact on international economic relations,” the leaders’ joint statement said.
The criticism of unilateral sanctions by the Eurasian grouping comes against the backdrop of sweeping sanctions by G-7 nations against Russia over its special military operation in Ukraine.
India, China and other developing states have said that the spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis has severely impacted countries of the Global South.
The SCO nations have also called for the implementation of a ‘Roadmap’ aimed at a “gradual increase in the share of national currencies in mutual settlements”.
Addressing the SCO meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping also backed the use of national currencies in trade settlements, what would mean moving away from the US dollar in international financial transactions.
Putin said that over 80 percent of bilateral transactions between Russia and China last year were settled in national currencies, as trade hit a record high of $180 billion.
He added that Moscow had used its national currency to settle over 40 percent of its export transactions last year.
The SCO states also called for implementation of the ‘SCO Economic Development Strategy’ to promote cooperation in “digital economy, high technologies and innovations” as well as towards expediting progress in implementing road, rail and multimodal connectivity initiatives such as the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
SCO Calls for Global Reforms
The joint statement noted that the SCO states backed the formation of a "more representative, a democratic, just and multipolar world order”.
It emphasized that such an order should be based on the principles of “international law, multilateralism, equal, joint, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security, cultural and civilizational diversity, mutually beneficial and equal cooperation of states with the central coordinating role of the United Nations (UN)”, the statement said.
The joint statement underlined that the SCO wasn’t “directed” against any other state or an international organization and remained open to cooperation with other entities based on the principles of the UN and SCO Charter.
The New Delhi Declaration also called for “increasing the effectiveness” of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“They emphasize the need for an inclusive reform of the organization as soon as possible, focusing on issues of its development and adaptation to modern economic realities, as well as the effective implementation of monitoring, negotiation and dispute resolution functions,” the statement said.
They also underlined the need for “further improving and reforming” the global economic governance architecture to “strengthen an open, transparent, fair, inclusive, non-discriminatory and multilateral trading system”, the statement said.