The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, on October 26.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang joined fellow leaders, including Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, the Indian foreign minister, and the Pakistani foreign minister from member states, together with Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko and Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene, from two of the SCO’s observer states. The meeting was hosted by Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov.
In his speech to the meeting, Premier Li said that looking back at the founding aspiration of the SCO, its members were brought together to ensure that regional affairs are decided by regional countries through consultation, without interference from those outside the region. He added:
“Twenty-two years ago, the SCO was founded in response to the shared aspiration of regional countries for promoting friendship, safeguarding security and pursuing development. Today, the Organisation has grown from the original ‘Shanghai Five’ to nine member states, three observer states, and 14 dialogue partners. SCO member states now account for nearly half of the world’s population and about one quarter of the global GDP.”
Li offered four proposals on deepening SCO cooperation. First, the SCO members should jointly solidify the regional security barrier, firmly reject external interference, improve the organisation’s mechanism of coping with security threats and challenges as soon as possible, and crack down on the ‘three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism’ as well as transnational organised crimes.
Second, SCO members should jointly promote the speedy economic recovery, cooperate to build safe and efficient transportation systems, continuously promote trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, and maintain steady and smooth industrial supply chains.
Third, the members should jointly enhance the Belt and Road cooperation. The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation has been successfully held, and the Belt and Road has become the most popular international public goods and the largest international cooperation platform in the past 10 years.
The SCO members should reinforce the alignment of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with the member states’ respective development strategies, push forward the construction of major economic corridors, and develop well the SCO Development Bank.
Fourth, the SCO member states should jointly promote the understanding and amity among their people, and continue to deepen cooperation in areas including education, culture and tourism, and sports.
Li Qiang also held a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
Meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on October 25, he said that China is willing to further align its development strategies with Russia, promote synergy between the Belt and Road cooperation and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), maintain the growth momentum of cooperation on trade and investment, deepen cooperation in the field of energy, and enhance connectivity and trade liberalisation and facilitation.
On October 26, he met with Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, and Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene, Li said that China stands ready to work with Mongolia to firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and to strengthen cooperation with Mongolia in such fields as port connectivity, economy and trade, and green development, to further expand the pie of common interests, so as to achieve win-win results.
China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Mongolia under the SCO and other multilateral frameworks to better safeguard their common interests and build a community with a shared future for humanity, Li added.
For his part, Oyun-Erdene said that Mongolia stands ready to work with China to strengthen border port capacity building and connectivity, promote the Belt and Road cooperation, deepen cooperation in areas including trade, railway, green development, tourism, and culture, and deepen multilateral cooperation, so as to lift Mongolia-China relations to a higher level.
In his meeting with Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Li noted that President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met twice this year and reached a series of important consensuses. China, he stressed, will continue to firmly support Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity, and will strongly oppose any external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs.
Mokhber said that China is a comprehensive strategic partner of Iran and the two countries enjoy a long history of friendship. Iran appreciates China’s assistance for its economic and social development and is firmly committed to deepening Iran-China relations.
Meeting with Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Li said that China is willing to strengthen the synergy of development strategies with Tajikistan, continue to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, give full play to industrial complementarity, expand trade and investment, strengthen cooperation in such fields as transport infrastructure, civil aviation, green economy and digital economy, and deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges in sports, culture, education and between regions so as to help the development and revitalisation of the two countries.
The two sides, he added, should maintain close coordination in multilateral areas, implement the outcomes of the China-Central Asia Summit, strengthen cooperation within the United Nations, the SCO, and other frameworks, uphold the common interests of the two countries and safeguard international equity and justice.
For his part, Rasulzoda said that Tajikistan-China relations have a long history, profound foundation and rich connotation. Noting that Tajikistan appreciates China’s strong support for its economic and social development over the years, he said that his country is willing to work with China to consolidate traditional friendship, promote the Belt and Road cooperation, deepen cooperation in such fields as industry, agriculture, transportation, energy, infrastructure, and digital economy, and push for further in-depth development of bilateral relations.
Tajikistan stands ready to work with China to promote all-round cooperation between China and Central Asian countries, deepen coordination within the frameworks of the United Nations and the SCO, and promote regional peace and prosperity, he added.
The following day, Li met with the Prime Minister of Belarus, Roman Golovchenko. He said that, under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, bilateral relations have achieved leap-forward development in recent years.
China stands ready to push for deeper synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Belarus’ strategy for social and economic development and jointly build the China-Belarus Great Stone Industrial Park and other key projects.
He called on both sides to tap the potential of cooperation in such areas as trade in services and scientific and technological innovation, strengthen people-to-people and cultural cooperation, and push forward their all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership. The two sides should strengthen communication and coordination within the SCO and other multilateral mechanisms to make greater contribution to regional and world peace, stability, and development.
Golovchenko said that Belarus firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests. Belarus is ready to strengthen cooperation with China within multilateral frameworks such as the SCO to jointly boost the multipolarisation of the world, he added.
Prior to the Heads of Government meeting, Li Qiang also paid a bilateral visit to Kyrgyzstan on October 25. In his meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Li said Kyrgyzstan is an important neighbour of China, adding that in May, President Xi Jinping and President Japarov lifted bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era and jointly announced the building of a China-Kyrgyzstan community with a shared future of good neighbourliness and shared prosperity, which, constitutes a milestone in their history of bilateral relations and cooperation.
The Chinese side, Li added, is willing to deepen political mutual trust with the Kyrgyz side, always firmly support each other on issues concerning their respective core interest, further align their development strategies, deepen the integration of economic benefits, and continue to improve the quality and efficiency of bilateral cooperation.
And China is also willing to reinforce communication and coordination with the Kyrgyz side on regional and international affairs, speed up the implementation of the outcomes of the China-Central Asia Summit, closely coordinate within such multilateral mechanisms as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and safeguard the common interest of developing countries and international equity and justice, he added.
President Japarov said that the Kyrgyz side stands ready to deepen cooperation with China within the framework of China-Central Asia cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, jointly combat the ‘three forces’ of terrorism, separatism and extremism, effectively address traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and promote regional security and development.
The following reports were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.
Regional affairs should be decided without external interference: Chinese premier
BISHKEK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Looking back at the founding aspiration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), its members were brought together to ensure that regional affairs are decided by regional countries through consultation, without interference from those outside the region, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said here Thursday.
During his speech at the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO Member States, Li called for jointly building a security barrier in the region and resolutely resisting external interference.
In his speech, Li said the SCO summit in July this year further reached important consensus, and identified key tasks on carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit and building a closer SCO community with a shared future, adding that China is willing to work with all parties to implement the spirit of the summit.
At the Samarkand summit last year, President Xi Jinping stressed the necessity to uphold political trust, win-win cooperation, equality between nations, openness and inclusiveness and equity and justice, which is the key to the success of the SCO’s development and growth, Li added.
Looking forward to the future, SCO members should keep in mind the founding aspiration and uphold the key to success, Li said, stressing that guided by the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, SCO members should work together and make mutual achievements, advance cooperation in various fields in a solid way, and inject more certainty and positive energy into peace and development of the region and the world.
Li offered four proposals on deepening SCO cooperation. First, the SCO members should jointly solidify regional security barrier, firmly reject external interference, improve the organization’s mechanism of coping with security threats and challenges as soon as possible, and crack down on the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism as well as transnational organized crimes.
Second, SCO members should jointly promote the speedy economic recovery, cooperate to build safe and efficient transportation systems, continuously promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and maintain steady and smooth industrial supply chains.
Third, the members should jointly enhance the Belt and Road cooperation. The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation has been successfully held, and the Belt and Road has become the most popular international public goods and the largest international cooperation platform in the past 10 years.
The SCO members should reinforce the alignment of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation with the member states’ respective development strategies, push forward the construction of major economic corridors, and develop well the SCO Development Bank.
Fourth, the SCO member states should jointly promote the understanding and amity among their people, and continue to deepen cooperation in areas including education, culture and tourism, and sports.
Leaders including Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, Indian foreign minister, Pakistani foreign minister attended the meeting, together with Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko and Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene, leaders of two observer states. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov hosted the meeting.
The SCO is committed to carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit, said participants of the meeting, adding that since its founding 22 years ago, the SCO has continuously developed, with its global influence ever increasing.
They agreed to implement the consensus reached at the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, jointly combat the “three forces” of terrorism, separatism and extremism and transnational organized crimes, strengthen cooperation in such areas as economy and trade, transportation, agriculture, energy, finance, high and new technology, environmental protection and green development, promote Belt and Road cooperation, improve infrastructure connectivity, and deepen people-to-people exchanges in such fields as tourism and education.
They also agreed to strengthen institutional building of the SCO, practice true multilateralism, jointly safeguard regional security and promote regional prosperity, and help make the international system more inclusive and sustainable.
The Chinese premier and other leaders of the SCO member states attending the meeting signed and issued a joint communique, and approved a series of SCO cooperation documents and resolutions on economy and trade, railways and institution building, among other areas.
Continue reading Li Qiang: SCO represents the shared aspiration of regional countries for friendship, security and development