On September 16, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the city of Samarkand.

The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, as well as the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Zhang Ming and the Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO Ruslan Mirzayev.

In accordance with the agenda of the meeting, the Heads of State discussed the current state and prospects for cooperation within the SCO, exchanged views on the current regional and international issues in the context of the development of the political and economic situation.

In the speech, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev summed up the results of the chairmanship as a part of the SCO from 2021-2022. As the President of our country noted, over 80 major events were held during this period. Despite the difficult consequences of the pandemic, the Plan for the Chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the SCO was fully implemented.

A solid package of documents – more than 40 agreements and decisions have been prepared for signing at the Samarkand Summit. They reflect the common approaches of the SCO States to interaction in popular and promising areas of cooperation, such as strengthening connectivity, industrial cooperation, the green economy, digitalization, trade and others.

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan noted that the SCO has become an influential participant in the regional and global processes in a historically short period. The stabilizing role of the Organization as an important factor of security and economic growth is being strengthened.

The Leader of Uzbekistan emphasized the need for maintaining the SCO’s non-aligned status, the openness and focus of the Organization’s activities on a broad partnership, be guided by the principles of consensus, equality and mutual respect.

Taking this into account, as well as relying on the productive experience of multifaceted cooperation within the SCO, the President of Uzbekistan made the specific proposals to address the priority tasks of developing cooperation in the coming years.

In particular, this is the adaptation of the SCO’s activities to the current realities, cooperation in the economy, trade and investment, strengthening the transport connectivity, the environmental agenda, cultural and humanitarian ties. A special attention is paid to the problems of security and the settlement of the situation in Afghanistan.

In conclusion, Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that the future of the SCO and the development of our countries largely depend on the joint, well-coordinated and effective work. «Together we are able to take the Organization to the new frontiers to ensure regional and global security, in the name of progress and prosperity of our countries and peoples», the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan has expressed his conviction.

In their speeches, the Heads of state touched upon the current issues of further developing cooperation as a part of the SCO, the problems of regional and international security. It was emphasized that the Samarkand Summit has a special, historical significance.

Then the meeting of the SCO Heads of State continued in an expanded format with the participation of the leaders of the observer countries, honorary guests and the Heads of international and regional organizations. The current summit is held for the first time in such a wide format – 14 leaders of countries are attending the event.