It was attended by delegations of national research centres of the SCO member states, experts from SCO observer countries, as well as by representatives of the secretariat and the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terror Structure and diplomats in Uzbekistan.

The forum is a multilateral public consultation and expert mechanism, and it was established to help and support the scholarly work of the SCO.

During the meeting, participants in the forum focused on the results of a SCO summit held in Tashkent in June last year. The sides exchanged views on the further development of the SCO, ways of stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, ensuring security in the Central Asian region and implementing mutually beneficial, investment, trade and economic projects.

During the discussion of regional security in the SCO area, the sides paid special attention to the Afghan problem. It was stressed that achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan was crucial to ensuring security and steady economic development in the region.

Uzbekistan's main approaches to the Afghan settlement were supported in plenary discussions of the forum. The sides were unanimous that the Afghan problem could not be solved militarily alone. There is a need for a compromise between the confronting parties, the participation of Afghans themselves and the country's socio-economic revival. After all, Afghanistan's problem must, above all, be solved by the Afghan people.