New Delhi, May 15 -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is increasingly positioning itself as one of the central institutions shaping the future global balance of power, as senior Russian official Sergei Shoigu declared Thursday that the bloc has the potential to become a "pillar of the multipolar world order" and a cornerstone of Eurasian security architecture.

Speaking during the meeting of the secretaries of the Security Councils of SCO member states in Bishkek, Shoigu said the collective economic, military, and geopolitical weight of SCO nations now gives the organization the ability to shape an alternative international framework beyond Western-led institutions.

"The combined potential of our countries allows us to consider the ...