Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart
Tokayev held a meeting with Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) member states. Opening the event, the Head of State
expressed condolences over the tragic death of the President and the Foreign
Minister of Iran. President Tokayev emphasized that the Foreign Ministers
Council meeting is one of the most important platforms to address current
issues within the SCO. To date, significant attention is being paid to
preparations for the upcoming SCO Heads of State Summit in Astana, which will
be dedicated to the theme ‘Strengthening multilateral dialogue – striving for
sustainable peace and development’.
“Kazakhstan proposed the development
of the SCO initiative On World Unity for a Just Peace and Harmony. The adoption
of this document, as well as the Astana Declaration during the forthcoming
summit, will, in our view, contribute to the consolidation of international
efforts to resolve conflicts in various regions of the world. Further steps in
reforming the SCO require special attention. The active participation of the
member states in making specific decisions to improve the activities of our
Organization is highly commendable,” said President Tokayev.
Also, the Kazakh President believes
that the Organization’s ongoing focus should include cooperation in combating
terrorism, separatism, and extremism. Moreover, modern relevant issues such as cyber
threats and climate change require significant attention as well.
“Without urgent preventive
measures, this problem could plunge our planet into a dramatic period of global
natural disasters. Extreme weather conditions are becoming one of the main
global challenges. In this regard, it is necessary to update the SCO approaches
to combating natural disasters. This spring, Kazakhstan fully experienced the
negative consequences of climate change,” added the Head of State.
To date, the SCO unites 10
Eurasian states, which collectively are home to nearly half of the world’s
population and account for a quarter of the global GDP, as well as 15 percent
of the world trade.
