The Council of Heads of SCO Member States holds a meeting in a contracted format

On September 16, a meeting of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in a contracted format under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in the city of Samarkand.

The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, as well as Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Zhang Ming and Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO Ruslan Mirzayev.

By the agenda of the meeting, the heads of state discussed the current state and prospects for cooperation within the SCO, exchanged views on the current regional and international issues in the context of the development of the political and economic situation.

In his speech, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev summed up the results of the chairmanship within the framework of the SCO from 2021-2022. As the Head of the state noted, over 80 major events were held during this period. Despite the difficult consequences of the pandemic, the Plan for the Chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the SCO was fully implemented.

A solid package of documents – more than 40 agreements and decisions have been prepared for signing at the Samarkand Summit. They reflect the general approaches of the SCO states to interaction in popular and promising areas of cooperation, such as strengthening connectivity, industrial cooperation, the green economy, digitalization, trade and others.

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan noted that in a historically short period, the SCO has become an influential participant in regional and global processes. The stabilizing role of the Organization as an important factor of security and economic growth is being strengthened.

The Leader of Uzbekistan emphasized the need for maintaining the non-bloc status of the SCO, the openness and focus of the Organization’s activities on a broad partnership, be guided by the principles of consensus, equality and mutual respect.

Taking this into account, and relying on the fruitful experience of multifaceted cooperation within the SCO, the President of Uzbekistan made specific proposals to address the priority tasks of developing cooperation in the coming years.

In particular, this is the adaptation of the activities of the SCO to current realities, cooperation in the economy, trade and investment, strengthening transport connectivity, the environmental agenda, cultural and humanitarian ties. The main attention was paid to the problems of security and the settlement of the situation in Afghanistan.

In conclusion, Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that the future of the SCO and the development of our countries largely depend on joint, well-coordinated and effective work. “Together we can bring the Organization to new frontiers to ensure regional and global security, in the name of progress and prosperity of our countries and peoples”, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan expressed his confidence.

In their speeches, the heads of state touched upon the current issues of further developing cooperation within the framework of the SCO, problems of regional and international security. It was emphasized that the Samarkand Summit has a special, historical significance.

The meeting of the SCO Heads of State continued in an expanded format with the participation of the leaders of the observer countries, guests of honor and heads of international and regional organizations. The current summit is held for the first time in such a wide format – 14 leaders of countries are attending the event.

UzA