Uzbekistan will provide China with comprehensive assistance in implementing the concept of China’s presidency in the SCO, the National Coordinator of the Republic of Uzbekistan for SCO Affairs Nuriddin Ubaydullayev stated in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

According to him, the Uzbek side will support all the priorities of the Chinese presidency, which were announced during a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China on China’s rotating presidency of the SCO in 2024-2025.

The plan for the presidency provides for holding over 100 events that cover not only the areas of cooperation that have already been established in the SCO, but also new areas of demand, such as the development of cooperation in intraregional trade, industrial cooperation, connectivity, innovation, poverty reduction, food security, healthcare, financing green development, industrialization, digital transformation, and others, the official noted.

He emphasized that the initiative voiced by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, to declare 2025 the SCO Year of Sustainable Development and the inclusion of the Global Development Initiative in the Chairmanship Plan fully reveal the essence of China’s constructive approach to strengthening commitment to the basic principles of the structure and enhancing the organization’s high authority in the international arena.

“Today, further development of economic cooperation in the SCO space is becoming an urgent task designed to improve the social well-being of our peoples”, Mr. Ubaydullayev said. “In these conditions, the significant potential of trade and economic ties and the construction of transport infrastructure will ensure positive trends in the development of regional economic cooperation and contribute to the improvement of cooperation mechanisms within the SCO. Therefore, all the initiatives proposed by the Chinese side are consonant with the initiatives of Uzbekistan, are logically interconnected, and complement each other”.

In his opinion, the SCO is an ever-in-demand multilateral platform for implementing an open, pragmatic course aimed at broad, mutually beneficial cooperation in Uzbekistan’s system of foreign policy priorities.

“In general, speaking about our interaction within the SCO, it is necessary to emphasize that Uzbekistan is optimistic about the future of our cooperation, which is based on the time-tested, unshakable principles of the SCO Charter”, concluded the National Coordinator of the Republic of Uzbekistan for SCO Affairs.

UzA