Astana hosts the 24th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev speaks at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states.

A meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been held at the Palace of Independence.

At the beginning of the meeting, the heads of delegations signed the decision to admit the Republic of Belarus to the Organization and grant it the status of a SCO member state.

Addressing the summit participants, the President of Kazakhstan noted that the SCO had turned into an effective mechanism of interstate relations operating on the basis of the "Shanghai spirit" of friendship, good-neighborliness, equality and mutual support.

- The SCO is home to over three billion people. The Organization comprises the world's largest and fastest growing economies, accounting for one third of the world's GDP. This clearly demonstrates the enormous potential and global role of our Organization. The SCO has shown itself to be a unique platform where the voices and interests of all its member countries are equally taken into account. It is on this inviolable democratic basis that our long-term cooperation is based, which, I am sure, will be reinforced with new content," he said.

Kasym-Jomart Tokayev summarized the results of Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the SCO

He said that thanks to the active support of all SCO members during Kazakhstan's presidency about 150 events of different levels were held, including digital, tourism, energy and business forums, as well as the SCO Youth Council.

- The treaty base was enriched with 60 new documents, including the Anti-Drug Strategy, the Plan for the Implementation of the Economic Cooperation Strategy, the Agreement on Environmental Protection, and the Energy Cooperation Development Strategy. The range of SCO partner international organizations was expanded. The activities of the Special Working Group on Investments were resumed. The process of transition to settlements in national currencies has gained positive momentum," the head of state noted.

Thanks to all these measures, he emphasized, trade and economic cooperation in the SCO space is developing dynamically.

According to the President, the Kazakh chairmanship has paid special attention to strengthening cultural and humanitarian ties.

- A number of anchor projects have been launched, which make the SCO format even more attractive. These include the project "Spiritual Shrines of the SCO countries" and the first international music festival "SCO Silk Road". Also, 10 tourist territories for realization of joint projects have been defined. The city of Almaty has become the cultural and tourist capital of the SCO," the head of state said.

In general, as the President said, Kazakhstan has fully fulfilled all the goals and objectives declared at the previous summit. Kasym-Jomart Tokayev expressed sincere gratitude to all countries for their support and active participation in the implementation of Kazakhstan's initiatives.

The head of Kazakh state outlined the key areas that, in his opinion, are of strategic importance for all the Shanghai Ten countries.

The President named strengthening mutual trust and cooperation in the field of security as the first direction.

- The current difficult situation is largely a consequence of the acute crisis in the entire system of international relations. Against this background, the SCO should strengthen its stabilizing and creative role to overcome the erosion of international law, prevent geopolitical rifts and, ultimately, strengthen peace and security in the broad global context," he said.

The head of state expressed confidence that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has exceptional opportunities to act as a guarantor of peace and security across the Eurasian continent. It is for this purpose that Kazakhstan had earlier proposed the implementation of the SCO initiative "On world unity for just peace, harmony and development", which was supported by the participants of the association.

The speech also emphasized the need to develop and adopt an agreement on confidence-building measures in the military sphere with a focus on combating the "forces of three evils.

Strengthening cyber security was named as another urgent task facing the participants. In this regard, Kasym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to develop a special mechanism for the continuous exchange of information, application of best practices and best practices to ensure the stable functioning of the information infrastructure of the SCO countries.

In the opinion of the President of Kazakhstan, the Plan of Cooperation on International Information Security, which is being adopted today, meets these objectives.

The second priority area of cooperation, the President said, is the expansion of trade and economic ties.

- Unfavorable trends in the global economy are gaining momentum. According to the World Bank, the growth rate of the global economy will slow down this year. It is obvious that the world economy needs new points of growth and a completely different development paradigm. Therefore, important tasks of the Shanghai Organization, in our opinion, are to expand trade and economic cooperation, create conditions for the free movement of capital and technology, and combat climate challenges. The growth of mutual trade is becoming a general trend for the SCO space. Thus, Kazakhstan's trade with the SCO countries grew by 6.5% last year. The SCO countries have a solid technological base and a huge market for the development of all vital sectors of the economy. The development of special tax, customs and migration regimes will help to make significant progress in this direction. In this regard, Kazakhstan's proposal to create the SCO Economic Preference Base remains relevant. The need to create a single platform for discussing and approving investment projects has become obvious. We propose to create a Mechanism for financial support of project activities on the basis of the Astana International Financial Center. China, Russia, India, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan are already actively working on this platform. In general, 20% of the residents of the IFCA are companies from the SCO countries," the President noted.

The third area of cooperation is strengthening transportation connectivity by building efficient corridors and reliable supply chains.

- We attach exceptional importance to further synergy of the Chinese megaproject "One Belt, One Road", the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route and trans-Eurasian corridors along the "North-South" direction, including the "Central Asia-South Asia" vector. To implement these plans, it is important to take practical measures to create a Partnership Network of strategic ports and logistics centers within the SCO," said Kasym-Jomart Tokayev.

The head of state dwelt separately on the need to reform and modernize the SCO.

- In the context of rapid global changes, we face an urgent task to further improve the SCO activities. The ongoing process of the Organization's expansion opens new opportunities and gives impetus to its development. As SCO Chair, my country has presented its balanced proposals for transforming the Organization into an even more effective multilateral cooperation mechanism. In particular, we are in favor of strengthening the role of the SCO Secretariat and the Secretary-General," the President emphasized.

As the leader of Kazakhstan noted, all these proposals are dictated by a sincere desire to contribute to the achievement of common noble goals shared by all SCO countries.

In conclusion, the head of our state thanked all the participants of the event for their support. He cordially congratulated President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China on assuming the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State and wished the Chinese side success.

The summit was also addressed by President Alexander Lukashenko of the Republic of Belarus, Acting President Mohammad Mokhber of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China, President Sadyr Zhaparov of the Kyrgyz Republic, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, President Emomali Rahmon of the Republic of Tajikistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar of the Republic of India, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Summing up the results of the meeting, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that a wide range of issues on further promotion of multifaceted cooperation were discussed, and the vector of further development of our Organization was determined.

- We are optimistic about the future of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. I am confident that the documents that we are about to sign will open a new page of cooperation within the SCO, will contribute to the systemic and comprehensive development of our Organization," said the President of Kazakhstan.