ISRS hosted a virtual conference on “The main results of the SCO Heads of State Council Meeting”.

A virtual conference has been held on “The main results of the SCO Heads of State Council Meeting”.

The event was organized at the initiative of the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It brought together leading experts from the strategic research institutes of the SCO member states: Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, Russia and Tajikistan.

Among them are the former SCO Secretary General Muratbek Imanaliev, ambassadors, professors and researchers.

The online platform served to conduct an in-depth discussion of pressing issues on the SCO agenda through the prism of the summit of the heads of state of the Organization, the proposals made by the leaders of the countries on the contours of future cooperation within this format.

ISRS Deputy Director Sanjar Valiyev noted the high practical significance of the online meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council, held on November 10 this year. The documents adopted following the summit will make it possible to resolve a number of pressing issues of multilateral cooperation within the framework of the Organization in a pandemic.

Revealing Uzbekistan’s positions and approaches to further development of relations within the framework of the SCO, the expert explained the essence and content of the initiatives forwarded by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, which are designed to promote the expansion of interaction in such areas as the economy, medicine and healthcare, ecology, poverty reduction, and assistance to Afghanistan.

S. Valiyev emphasized that the proposals of Uzbekistan have absorbed the socio-economic needs that are most urgent for the people of all countries of the “Shanghai Family” and, in fact, create promising areas for interaction.

In the context of a special demand for a multilateral approach to overcome the consequences of the pandemic, according to the ISRS Deputy Director, the SCO can and should play a key role in the efforts taken by the member states to overcome the crisis.

In turn, the experts of the SCO countries emphasized the pragmatic and demanded nature of Uzbekistan’s initiatives, voiced at the meeting of the heads of state.

IMEMO Sector Head Dina Malysheva noted the importance of ensuring the implementation of Uzbekistan’s initiatives on development of new approaches to enhancing trade, economic and investment ties between the SCO member states.

In particular, in order to minimize the negative consequences of the pandemic, Uzbekistan proposed to strengthen cooperation by adopting long-term documents in this sphere. The Action Plan under development for 2021-2025 for the implementation of the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation of the SCO countries, according to this initiative, should incorporate targeted measures in transport, smart agriculture, green technologies, digitalization of the economy, e-commerce.

Central Asian experts also agree with this point of view, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic caused serious damage to the industrial sector, small and medium-sized businesses of the SCO countries. Establishment of industrial cooperation between businesspeople of the Organization’s member states is in demand. However, at present the SCO lacks policy documents aimed at creating new supply chains between them. In this regard, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s initiative implies the development of a Program to stimulate industrial cooperation between the SCO countries. The initiative is also designed to attract investments, resources and experience of the SCO countries for development of industries and support small and medium-sized businesses in the post-pandemic period, especially in Central Asia.

Participants of the conference emphasized the importance of the discussion held by ISRS, which made it possible to outline further steps in the process of implementing the initiatives voiced at the last summit by the heads of state.

UzA