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SCO FMs convene in Tashkent

24 May 2016 16:22 (UTC+04:00)
SCO FMs convene in Tashkent

By Amina Nazarli

The meeting of Foreign Ministers Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) wrapped up in Uzbek capital Tashkent on May 24.

The meeting discussed the preparation process for the meeting of the Council of Heads of the SCO member states (June 23-24), the draft agenda of this meeting, as well as draft documents proposed to be signed on the meeting's results.

The summit's main outcome document was the Tashkent Declaration, which was dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the SCO. The document assessed the organization's activities during this period, approaches of the states to the prospects of its development, as well as the SCO's position on the current international and regional situation, solving topical security issues.

Foreign ministers of the SCO member states, the SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov and the Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO (RATS SCO) Eugene Sysoev, Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov took part in the meeting.

The foreign ministers of SCO states also signed a wide range of documents, including the procedure for admission of India and Pakistan in the organization.

The ministers also adopted the documents such as a draft agenda of the session of SCO Council of Heads of States, on the Procedure of Accession of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the SCO, draft action plan for 2016-2020 on the implementation of development strategies until 2025 of SCO, as well as draft Tashkent declaration on the 15th anniversary of the SCO.

During the meeting, the states called for the adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

“The Council of Ministers called for the adoption of the UN Comprehensive Convention on combating international terrorism and the establishment of an effective platform of broad cooperation in countering challenges and threats to regional security,” Kamilov said during the press conference after the meeting.

Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister noted that early restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan is an important factor in maintaining and strengthening security in the region.

"The meeting participants reaffirmed their support for the settlement of the Afghan conflict through promoting the national reconciliation process, and noted that these efforts must be undertaken exclusively by the Afghan people. At the same time the UN should play a central coordinating role in international cooperation on Afghanistan,” he said.

SCO FMs also discussed the organization's development strategy by 2025.

Rashid Alimov said that the SCO FMs meeting is the last stage on the way to the anniversary summit.

“The ministers discussed and approved the documents which will be proposed by them for inclusion in the agenda of the historic meeting of heads of states. Particular attention was paid to the implementation of the action plan on the development of SCO strategy by 2025,” the SCO Secretary General said.

Alimov said that the document is a road map towards achieving a common goal to ensure the effective functioning of the SCO, the expansion of cooperation measures in the fight against the three evils and modern as well as challenges and threats and the development of concrete steps to further promotion of regional economic cooperation and cooperation in cultural and humanitarian sphere.

The SCO members are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.

Azerbaijan approved the status of a dialogue partner this March. The path of the relations between Azerbaijan and SCO started back in 2012, when President Ilham Aliyev sent an official letter to the SCO with the idea of Azerbaijan to gain an observer status of the organization.

A decision on providing Azerbaijan with the status of SCO dialogue partner was taken at the Ufa summit in July 2015.

Experts say that a dialogue partner status will allow Azerbaijan to actively involve in the multi-faceted and diverse activities of the organization through participation in existing mechanisms of interaction.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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