Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization met in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, to prepare the group's Bishkek summit and align positions on security, economic cooperation and global governance. The meeting brought together member-state ministers, the SCO secretary-general and the head of its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi presented the organization's next decade as a phase of higher-quality development. He said the Tianjin summit had established a strategic blueprint and that China had spent the past year implementing initiatives advanced by President Xi Jinping.
Seven cooperation platforms have been launched in green industry, the digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, energy, higher education, vocational training and artificial intelligence. Wang said those platforms had generated more than 160 projects, while an action plan for economic and trade cooperation was moving forward and intra-SCO trade continued to expand.
Wang organized China's proposal around four priorities. The first was deeper strategic trust under the Shanghai Spirit; the second was a stronger regional security firewall based on dialogue, consultation and cooperation, including faster work on four planned security centers.
The third priority focused on connecting national development strategies with regional initiatives. It included Belt and Road cooperation, trade and investment, physical connectivity, technology, green industry, digital activity, artificial intelligence and joint protection of industrial and supply chains.
The fourth priority sought a larger SCO role in global governance. Wang called for support for the United Nations and its Charter, broader participation in governance initiatives and internal reforms that would make the organization more efficient while keeping it open to additional members.
Delegations linked the agenda to the SCO's 25th anniversary and described the organization as a major pillar of an emerging multipolar order. They also emphasized sovereignty, territorial integrity, action against terrorism, separatism and extremism, and cooperation against transnational organized crime.
The meeting ended with a statement by the Council of Foreign Ministers and resolutions covering preparations for the Bishkek summit. The documents place security, development and institutional capacity on the same track as the organization moves from ministerial coordination to decisions by heads of state.
