Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 17 September, an anniversary meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in the capital of the Republic of Tajikistan - the city of Dushanbe.

The leaders of the SCO member states - President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Imran Khan and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin attended the event.

The observer states to the Organization were represented by President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ibrohim Raisi and President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov attended as an honorary guest.

The event was also attended by the heads of the executive bodies of the SCO, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia and the Economic Cooperation Organization.

In accordance with the agenda of the summit, the main results of the SCO’s activities over the past 20 years and the priority tasks of multifaceted cooperation facing the Organization were discussed. An exchange of views took place on issues of global and regional politics.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in his speech emphasized the growing role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in modern international relations.

- Over the past period, the SCO has become an important subject of world politics, has taken its rightful place among influential international structures. Regional partnership is being strengthened based on the principles of the "Shanghai spirit". Joint potential is growing in confronting new challenges and threats, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation is expanding, said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

The head of our state also drew attention to the urgent tasks on the SCO agenda and made specific proposals for their solution.

“Today we are all witnessing growing tensions in the world and the region. The negative effects of the pandemic remain. All this requires from us even greater solidarity and mutual support within the framework of our organization, the President said.

The leader of Uzbekistan stressed the need for a timely and joint response to common challenges and threats, building up regional economic cooperation, strengthening friendship and deepening cultural and humanitarian interaction in the SCO space.

Concern was expressed about the evolving situation in Afghanistan. Specific principles for the development of a dialogue with the new authorities of the country were proposed, including the achievement of broad political representation of all layers of Afghan society in public administration, as well as the observance of fundamental human rights and freedoms, including women and national minorities.

To consolidate efforts and broadly discuss issues of a political settlement of the situation in Afghanistan, the President of our country proposed to regularly hold high-level meetings in the SCO-Afghanistan format, with the involvement of observer states and dialogue partners. Readiness was expressed to organize the first such meeting in Tashkent.

Taking into account the chairmanship of the SCO of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2021-2022, the Head of our state outlined the main priorities and tasks of the Organization for the coming period.

In order to further build up a multifaceted partnership between the SCO member states, it was proposed to prepare and adopt a Comprehensive Program for the implementation of the Treaty on long-term good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation of the SCO member states for 2023-2027.

The President of Uzbekistan came up with an initiative to develop a Joint Action Plan for the Development of Intraregional Trade, which provides for measures to eliminate trade barriers, approximate technical regulations, digitalize customs procedures, as well as implement other measures to facilitate mutual access to markets.

For a comprehensive consideration of the issues of stimulating business contacts between representatives of the business community of the countries of the Organization, it is planned to hold the Economic Forum and the Week of Industrial Innovations of the SCO next year in Uzbekistan.

The importance of the soonest adoption of the SCO Industrial Cooperation Program and the creation of industrial cooperation centers on the territory of the member states was noted.

The head of Uzbekistan emphasized that the adoption of the SCO Strategy for the Development of Transport Interconnection will make it possible to fully use the transit potential of our countries and increase the efficiency of the East-West and North-South corridors system. 

“We come up with an initiative to jointly prepare a long-term Program of Infrastructure Development in the SCO space, which could include cross-border projects in the field of energy, communications,“ green ”development,” said Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Taking into account the relevance of issues of poverty reduction and food security, the President of Uzbekistan proposed to launch a mechanism of regular ministerial meetings and expert consultations in this area.

To intensify efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region, the attention of the summit participants was drawn to the importance of resuming meetings of the ministers of internal affairs and public security in the SCO space. 

Also, Shavkat Mirziyoyev came up with an initiative to establish an expert SCO Forum in the field of information security to adequately respond to modern threats and challenges in cyberspace.

“We appreciate the joint achievements of “people’s diplomacy,” the President continued. - In order to activate cultural, scientific, educational, sports ties, we advocate the establishment of the SCO Goodwill Ambassador Institute.

In addition, it was proposed to develop an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation between our countries in the field of tourism.

The leader of Uzbekistan also dwelled on another topical topic - issues of cooperation in the field of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, post-ovarian rehabilitation, mutual recognition of vaccination certificates.

In conclusion, the President of our country invited the participants of the meeting to the next SCO summit, which will be held in September 2022 in Uzbekistan.

As a result of the meeting, the Dushanbe Declaration on the Twentieth Anniversary of the SCO was adopted, 30 documents were signed aimed at further expanding multifaceted cooperation within the organization.

In addition, Zhang Ming was approved for the post of SCO Secretary General and Ruslan Mirzaev for the post of Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.

As previously reported, the President of our country also took part in a meeting in the format of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - Collective Security Treaty Organization on the situation in Afghanistan.