President of Uzbekistan outlines the most important aspects of further development of the SCO

On July 29, 2022, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the heads of delegations of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization attending the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO countries taking place in Tashkent.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tleuberdi, Member of the Leading CPC Member Group of the State Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Zheenbek Kulubaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan Sirojiddin Muhriddin, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Ruslan Mirzayev.

Priority tasks of multilateral cooperation and prospects for further development of the SCO were discussed. The main attention was paid to the results of joint activities over the past period of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the association and the agenda of the upcoming summit in the city of Samarkand in September this year.

Views were also exchanged on the current issues of the international and regional agenda.

Addressing the ministers of the SCO countries, the President of Uzbekistan noted that today the world is undergoing a fundamental transformation with unpredictable consequences. There is a growing lack of trust and mutual understanding at the global level.

The Leader of Uzbekistan pointed to the violation of traditional cooperation and logistics chains, the aggravation of the situation in food and energy security, the rapid growth of inflation rates, and the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in most countries of the world.

In these difficult conditions, there is a growing demand for effective coordination and close multilateral cooperation to adequately respond to modern challenges to security and sustainable development.

It is no coincidence that there is a growing interest in the SCO and the establishment of practical interaction with the Organization. Applications from more than ten countries for participation in its work in one status or another are under consideration.

The President of Uzbekistan emphasized that the SCO is one of the most powerful associations in terms of its political, economic, scientific and intellectual potential. The countries of the Organization account for about a quarter of the world’s GDP and half of the world’s population.

Concerning the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the SCO, the Leader of Uzbekistan noted with satisfaction the successful holding of over 70 major events. The coordination of 28 documents, the adoption of which is envisaged following the Samarkand Summit, has been completed.

Among them are concepts and programs to stimulate intra-regional trade, industrial cooperation and transport connectivity. Joint projects and events in the green economy, innovations, digital technologies, logistics, agriculture, medicine and other areas are also under development.

The President of Uzbekistan outlined several fundamental aspects of further development of the SCO. We are talking about maintaining the non-bloc status of the Organization, strengthening the potential to counter new challenges and threats, maintaining the status of the “geographical core” of the SCO for Central Asia, promoting cross-border connectivity projects and more actively involving Afghanistan in regional economic processes.

In conclusion, the commitment of Uzbekistan to further strengthening friendship and good neighborliness, full-scale cooperation in the SCO space in the interests of our countries and peoples was emphasized.

The distinguished guests expressed their gratitude to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the warm welcome and conveyed sincere greetings and best wishes on behalf of the leaders of their countries.

UzA