June 15 – the SCO Day

This year Uzbekistan chairs the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. At present, all attention is focused on the upcoming regular meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, which will be held on September 15-16 this year.

Large-scale activity is being carried out to prepare for the Samarkand Summit, enrich the content of the conference, and set the agenda. The documents to be signed within the forthcoming summit are at the stage of coordination.

It should be noted that about 50 events have been successfully held within the framework of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the SCO. Many new areas of cooperation, promoted and effectively implemented at the initiative of Uzbekistan, serve to enrich the agenda of the Organization, taking into account modern realities. In particular, the first meetings of the heads of the SCO member states responsible for information and communication technologies, poverty reduction and plant quarantine were held in Uzbekistan.

In addition, the 15th meeting of the Youth Council, a meeting of heads of ministries and agencies responsible for environmental protection, a meeting of health ministers, the SCO forum on traditional medicine “Integrating traditional medicine into a modern healthcare system”, a meeting of experts on the preparation for the next meeting of the secretaries of the Security Council, were held.

During these events, the need for strengthening the Organization’s potential in the fight against new challenges and threats to stability and security, deepening multilateral cooperation based on the principles of the “Shanghai Spirit” was once again emphasized.

In the future, the main attention will be paid to the active promotion of joint projects in transport, green energy, innovation, digital economy, and industrial cooperation.

In May, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Zhang Ming. Issues of further enhancing practical cooperation and strengthening regional partnership within the framework of the SCO, as well as thorough preparation for events under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan were discussed.

The Secretary-General recognized Uzbekistan as one of the most active members of the SCO. “A new, beautiful city of the SCO is being created, which reflects the conceptual ideas of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev about New Uzbekistan. The Samarkand Summit will become an important historical stage in further strengthening the international authority of the Organization”, he said.

Uzbekistan played an important role in the establishment of the Organization in 2001, making a significant contribution to the development and successful functioning of the structure. The headquarters of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO is located in Tashkent.

Uzbekistan is the initiator of the formation and development of the public diplomacy of the SCO. The SCO Center for Public Diplomacy, which has been operating in Tashkent since January 2019, has been consistently working to strengthen trust and good neighborliness, interethnic and interfaith harmony, and develop intercivilizational dialogue.

Fruitful cooperation between Uzbekistan and the SCO, which began exactly 21 years ago, will continue to serve sustainable development.

Abror Gulomov, UzA