SCO reaches new cooperation milestone, eyes greater integration

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, has reached a new milestone in strengthening multilateral cooperation in the interests of ensuring stability, security and sustainable development, officials said on Wednesday.

The remarks were made at a meeting held in Beijing, following the SCO Samarkand summit held in Uzbekistan in September. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the summit and reached a number of important common understandings with other leaders on SCO cooperation in various areas, charting the way forward for SCO development.

Zhang Ming, secretary-general of the SCO, hailed the summit as a new milestone for further cooperation among SCO countries.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the heads of SCO member states have gathered for a full meeting, said Zhang, adding that the SCO's influence is constantly growing.

The SCO Secretariat will "continue working closely with all the countries of the SCO family and jointly implement the decisions of the heads of the SCO member states into reality", he added.

Farhod Arziev, Uzbekistan's ambassador to China, also hailed the summit and the Samarkand Declaration signed by SCO leaders, which allowed member countries "to outline new ways to strengthen multilateral cooperation in the interests of ensuring stability, security and sustainable development".

The summit clearly demonstrated that the SCO remains one of the most authoritative international organizations. At the same time, the SCO remains fundamentally committed to its fundamental principles of the "Shanghai spirit" -- non-aligned status, non-targeting against third countries, openness, consensus, trust, mutual benefit, equality and mutual respect, Arziev said.

The SCO is entering a new and more responsible stage of its development, and it has to solve many priority tasks for cooperation, the envoy added.