17.09.2021

On September 17, in the capital of the Republic of Tajikistan, the city of Dushanbe, an anniversary meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held.

The leaders of the SCO Member States – President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of  Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of China Xi Jinping,  President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and President of Russia Vladimir Putin took part at the Summit.

The observer states to the Organization were represented by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Iran Ibrakhim Raisi and the President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.  President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov attended as an honorary guest.

The event was also attended by the heads of the executive bodies of the SCO, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia and the Economic Cooperation Organization.

In accordance with the agenda of the Summit, the main outcomes of the SCO’s activities over the past 20 years and the priority tasks of multifaceted cooperation facing the Organization were discussed.  An exchange of views took place on the issues of global and regional politics.

In his speech President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has emphasized the SCO’s growing role in the modern international relations.

 - Over the past period, the SCO has become an important subject of world politics, has taken its rightful place among influential international structures.  The regional partnership is being strengthened based on the principles of the «Shanghai spirit».  The joint potential is growing in confronting the new challenges and threats, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation is expanding, - said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

President has also drawn attention to the urgent tasks on the SCO agenda and made specific proposals for their solution.

«Today we are all witnessing the growing tensions in the world and the region.  The negative effects of the pandemic remain.  All this requires from us even greater solidarity and mutual support in our Organization», - the President has said.

 President has stressed the need for a timely and joint response to common challenges and threats, building up regional economic cooperation, strengthening friendship and deepening cultural and humanitarian interactions in the SCO space.

A concern was expressed in terms of the emerging situation in Afghanistan.  The specific principles for the development of a dialogue with the new authorities of the country are proposed, including the achievement of broad political representation of all layers of Afghan society in public administration, as well as the observance of fundamental human rights and freedoms, including those of women and national minorities.

 To consolidate efforts and broadly discuss the issues of a political settlement of the situation in Afghanistan, the President of Uzbekistan proposed to regularly hold the high-level meetings in the SCO-Afghanistan format with the involvement of observer states and dialogue partners.  The readiness was expressed to organize the first such meeting in Tashkent.

Taking into account the presidency of Uzbekistan at the SCO in 2021-2022, the Uzbek Leader has outlined the main priorities and tasks of the Organization for the coming period.

To further build up a multifaceted partnership between the SCO Member States, it was proposed to draft and adopt a Comprehensive Program for the implementation of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, friendship and cooperation of the SCO Member States for 2023-2027.

The President of Uzbekistan has put forward an initiative to develop a Joint Action Plan for the Development of Intraregional Trade, which provides for measures to eliminate the trade barriers, approximate technical regulations, digitalize customs procedures, as well as implement other measures to facilitate mutual access to markets.

For a comprehensive stimulation of the business contacts between the representatives of the business community of the SCO countries, it is planned to hold the Economic Forum and the Week of Industrial Innovations of the SCO next year in Uzbekistan.

The importance of the soonest adoption of the SCO Industrial Cooperation Program and the creation of industrial cooperation centers on the territory of the Member States was noted.

 The President of Uzbekistan has emphasized that the adoption of the SCO Strategy for the Development of Transport Interconnectivity will make it possible to fully use the transit potential of our countries and increase the efficiency of the East-West and North-South corridor system.

 «We come up with an initiative to jointly draft a long-term Program of Infrastructure Development in the SCO space, which could include the cross-border projects in the field of energy, communications and green development», - said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Taking into account the relevance of the poverty reduction and ensuring food security, the President of Uzbekistan proposed to launch a mechanism of regular ministerial meetings and expert consultations in this area.

To intensify efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region, the attention of the Summit participants was drawn to the importance of resuming meetings of the interior and public security ministers in the SCO space.

Besides, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has proposed to establish an expert SCO Forum in the information security to adequately respond to modern threats and challenges in cyberspace.

«We appreciate the joint achievements of «public diplomacy», - the President continued.  - In order to stir up the cultural, scientific, educational and sports ties, we advocate the establishment of the SCO Goodwill Ambassador Institute.

In addition, it was proposed to develop an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation between our countries in tourism.

The Leader of Uzbekistan has also dwelled on another acute topic – the cooperation in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, post-Covid rehabilitation and mutual recognition of vaccination certificates.

In conclusion, the President has invited the delegates to the next SCO Summit, which will be held in September 2022 in Uzbekistan.

On the outcomes of the meeting, the Dushanbe Declaration on the 20th Anniversary of the SCO was adopted and 30 documents were signed to further expand the multifaceted cooperation within the Organization.

In addition, Zhang Ming was approved to the post of SCO Secretary General and Ruslan Mirzaev – the Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.

As it was reported earlier, the President also took part at the meeting in the format «Shanghai Cooperation Organization – Collective Security Treaty Organization» on the situation in Afghanistan.