Assuming the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China will advance practical cooperation in political, security, economic, and cultural fields with other members, Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said in Beijing on Monday.
China took over the rotating SCO presidency for 2024-2025 after the Astana Summit in July. At Monday's briefing on the work over the following year, Sun said China will focus on consolidating political mutual trust, maintaining common security, promoting common prosperity, strengthening people-to-people exchanges and improving the effectiveness of the mechanism.
"In the area of consolidating political mutual trust, China will propose the SCO Political Parties Forum and other events to strengthen cooperation among political parties and exchanges on governance. With regard to safeguarding common security, the SCO member states have reached a principled consensus at the Astana Summit on the establishment of an integrated center for addressing security threats and challenges, a center for information security, a center for combating transnational organized crimes and a center for drug control. China will promote the construction of these four centers during its presidency and strive for their early completion, so as to form a new platform and layout for SCO security cooperation," said Sun.
China will continue to play an active role in promoting the SCO agricultural technology exchange and training demonstration base and the China-SCO regional economic and trade cooperation demonstration zone, the vice foreign minister said. The country will also cooperate closely with other SCO members in such fields as economy and trade, financing, energy, green development and digital economy, and accelerate the alignment of Belt and Road cooperation with regional cooperation initiatives and national development strategies, he added.
China will give play to the role of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission of the SCO and other non-governmental friendship organizations, and host various cultural and people-to-people exchange activities in Qingdao, the SCO tourism and cultural capital, according to the vice foreign minister.
"In terms of enhancing the effectiveness of the mechanism, the member states reached consensus on improving the quality and efficiency of the SCO and maintaining its openness at the Astana Summit. China will continue to work with all the parties to improve the SCO's operational mechanism, facilitate the deep participation of observer states and dialogue partners in the organization's cooperation. We welcome more countries that recognize the Shanghai Spirit and the purposes and principles of the SCO Charter to join the SCO family," said Sun.
On June 15, 2001, the heads of state of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan gathered in Shanghai. Together, they announced the creation of a new regional group on the Eurasian continent - the SCO.
The SCO is the only inter-governmental organization named after a Chinese city. It has become a key venue for China to bolster its cooperation with countries in Central Asia and the broader Eurasian landmass.
The SCO currently counts Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan among its members, with Afghanistan and Mongolia as observers. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrein, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the SCO dialogue partners.
China to promote practical cooperation as rotating SCO chair: Vice FM
China to promote practical cooperation as rotating SCO chair: Vice FM
