Meet the Press: SCO Summit, Bishkek

The press setup here at the SCO summit is pretty impressive. There are dozens of computers in the press room, printers, high-speed internet, and several helpful assistants. They provide us with coffee and food all day and there was even a poolside party last night for journalists with loads of free alcohol and live entertainment (including a Kyrgyz man in a sequined suit playing “Mack the Knife” on a huge saxophone). The only thing we lack is information, or really any access at all to anyone who has anything to do with the summit.

Apparently I was naïve to think that there would be a press conference. There was, in the words of the official agenda, a “joint entrance to the press” where the assembled reporters got to watch each president sign, in turn, each of the resolutions. Then each president made a short statement, and that was it. No questions. I watched it all on TV.

There really was no reason for any of the 500 reporters who came to Bishkek to be here at all. Most of us sat in this press room the entire time. A privileged few got to go to actually see the participants in person, soak up their aura for a few minutes, and then come back. For me, it was fine – I was in Bishkek anyway. But they could have webcast the thing and saved everyone else the travel expenses. I guess this has the same relationship to an actual press conference as elections in most of the SCO countries do with real democracy. It’s all of the form and none of the substance.

So, the result is stories like the below. Warning: Do not read these stories if you are driving or operating heavy machinery.

This, from the Islamic Republic News Agency:

The seventh summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) ended in Kyrgyz capital Bishkek Thursday.

Senior officials of the SCO six permanent members, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, attended the summit, opened Thursday morning.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took part at the summit as an observer while presidents of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan and prime ministers of India, Pakistan and Mongolia were among other participants.

Top-ranking officials delivered speeches at the event to elaborate on their plans for development of the SCO member countries.

Or from Xinhua:

BISHKEK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) began in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday.

    Leaders of SCO's six member states -- Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov -- addressed the summit and inked a long-term treaty of good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation.

    Leaders and representatives from SCO's observer countries -- Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India -- also delivered speeches at the summit.

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and United Nations Under-Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe attended the summit as guests of the host country.

 

Comments

[David James Vickery]

Hey Josh,
I just wanted to ask about accommodation there in Bishkek. Are they all expensive hotels or are there hostels and the like for backpackers?
What about other cities? The map I found only showed Bishkek. And what are the points of interest, please.
Thanks, David
(Canada)

[Rowan]

Hey Josh, hope your travels are going well. We just did a truly brown-nose piece of Uzbekistan's support for the One-China policy in UT - check it out when you hget a chance