Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States in Tianjin.

When meeting the press with SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev after the meeting, Wang Yi said that President Xi Jinping attaches great importance to this meeting and has made a special arrangement to meet with the foreign ministers of SCO member states and heads of its permanent bodies.

Xi Jinping stressed that the SCO should remain true to its founding mission, meet the expectations of the people, and shoulder its mission of the times, which has provided guidance for the high-quality development of the SCO. Wang Yi said that since assuming the rotating presidency, China has planned over 110 important events covering various fields, including dozens of ministerial-level meeting mechanisms.

These activities have made SCO's security cooperation more productive, injected greater impetus into development, improved institutional building, and greatly enhanced physical connectivity, institutional connectivity and people-to-people connectivity among member states.

At this meeting, foreign ministers had thorough exchanges on various topics, achieved the expected goals, and made full political preparations for the upcoming Tianjin Summit. The foreign ministers agreed to take concrete actions in the following five aspects: First, carry forward the Shanghai Spirit. The Shanghai Spirit, which originated at the turn of the century, is the very root and soul of the SCO and has demonstrated timeless value throughout its development course.

All parties agreed that the more turbulent and changing the international situation becomes, the more the member states should be guided by the Shanghai Spirit, strengthen solidarity, deepen mutual trust, continuously enrich the profound substance of the Shanghai Spirit and make it a basic norm governing international relations.

Second, improve security mechanisms. All parties reaffirmed the need to fully implement the important common understandings reached by the leaders of member states and continuously enhance the SCO's ability to respond to security threats and challenges, including combating the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism, transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, and safeguarding information security.

All parties decided to accelerate the building of "four security centers", including a universal center and its branches to address the challenges and threats to the security of SCO member states and the Anti-Drug Center. These efforts will become an important part of improving the SCO's operational mechanisms.

Third, create development opportunities together. All parties agreed that the SCO should seek greater synergy of member states' development strategies, enhance the resilience of industrial and supply chains, and foster new growth drivers in such fields as economy, trade, investment, energy, connectivity, scientific and technological innovation, green industries and the digital economy.

All parties also discussed the establishment of an SCO development bank and other financing support mechanisms, and reached a principled consensus. Fourth, consolidate good-neighborliness and friendship. An important source of the SCO's enduring vitality lies in understanding and affinity among the people of its member states. All parties advocated for fully leveraging various mechanisms, platforms and non-governmental channels to continue the friendship from generation to generation.

China will seek an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood, follow the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness and share weal and woe with its neighbors, work with other SCO countries to build a common home of solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, and fairness and justice.

Fifth, uphold fairness and justice. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War and the founding of the United Nations (UN), All parties have decided to uphold the correct historical view of World War II, defend the outcomes of the victory of World War II, firmly safeguard the UN-centered international system and work for a more just and equitable global governance system.

All parties particularly pointed out that the world today is overshadowed by the dark clouds of power politics and bullying, and beset by frequent international and regional conflicts. The rights of countries to survival and development are under stress, and international fairness and justice must be upheld.

The SCO should meet the expectations of the international community and take more proactive actions to promote lasting peace in the Middle East and help Afghanistan restore stability and development, so as to contribute to the cause of human progress.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China