Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan will provide all possible assistance to China in implementing its concept of chairmanship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This statement was made by Nuriddin Ubaydullaev, Uzbekistan’s National Coordinator for SCO Affairs, in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency.

According to Ubaydullaev, all the priorities of China’s chairmanship, which were outlined during a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China regarding China’s rotational chairmanship of the SCO for 2024-2025, will be fully supported by the Uzbek side.

The chairmanship plan includes more than 100 events that cover not only the established areas of cooperation within the SCO, but also new and emerging fields, such as cooperation in intra-regional trade, industrial cooperation, connectivity, innovation, poverty reduction, food security, healthcare, green development financing, industrialization, digital transformation, and others, noted Ubaydullaev.

He also emphasized that the initiative announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping to designate 2025 as the "Year of Sustainable Development of the SCO" and the inclusion of the Global Development Initiative into the chairmanship plan fully reflect China’s constructive approach to strengthening adherence to the core principles of the SCO and enhancing the organization’s high international standing.

"Today, further development of economic cooperation within the SCO space has become an urgent task aimed at improving the social well-being of our people," said Ubaydullaev. He added that leveraging the significant potential of trade and economic ties, as well as developing transport infrastructure, will ensure positive trends in regional economic cooperation and contribute to improving cooperation mechanisms within the SCO framework.

In this regard, all the initiatives put forward by China resonate with Uzbekistan’s initiatives, are logically interconnected, and complement each other, he believes.

In Ubaydullaev’s view, the SCO represents an increasingly vital multilateral platform within Uzbekistan’s foreign policy priorities, facilitating the implementation of an open, pragmatic, and mutually beneficial cooperation agenda.

"In general, when discussing our cooperation within the SCO, it is important to emphasize that Uzbekistan looks optimistically towards the future of our partnership, which is based on the time-tested, steadfast principles of the SCO Charter," he concluded.