SCO to deepen practical collaboration to address challenges

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday called for deepening and expanding cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization during the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the SCO held in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The SCO is an important platform for safeguarding regional peace and stability as it promotes the development and prosperity of all countries. The SCO member states, as reflected in the consensus they reached at the SCO Astana summit in July, are committed to jointly building a common home featuring solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, as well as fairness and justice.

To build such a common home, a more solid political foundation, more reliable security guarantees, closer economic ties, deeper emotional bond and more coordinated multilateral cooperation are needed, as Premier Li urged.

To that end, China stands ready to work with all parties to translate the consensus reached by the heads of state into effective actions and turn the aforementioned vision of building a common home into reality.

The SCO member states should strengthen their strategic alignment based on missions and tasks, formulate the SCO's development strategy for the next decade, draw a roadmap for cooperation in various fields, strengthen strategic communication, eliminate differences and enhance mutual trust through dialogue.

They should expand practical cooperation in line with the development needs of the SCO region, particularly in such fields as poverty reduction, digital economy and green development, so as to better facilitate regional trade and investment, enhance connectivity and maintain stable and unimpeded industry and supply chains.

They also need to focus on major risks and actively respond to them. The SCO member states should step up joint actions to combat extremist, separatist and terrorist forces, and accelerate the building of a universal center to address the challenges and threats to the security of SCO member states.

They should always expand people-to-people exchanges in response to public expectations. As Premier Li said, SCO member states should give full play to the SCO Committee on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, build the SCO digital education alliance, and organize events under signature programs such as the Forum on People-to-People Friendship.

In the face of the complex and volatile international environment and changes unseen in a century, all parties need to actively implement the outcomes of the Astana summit, work closely in solidarity and coordination, and strengthen the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union.