Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Tuesday addressed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting where he addressed important issues related to long-term sustainable development in the SCO region for increasing inter-regional trade, the Green Agenda and cooperation in the sphere of tourism among others.

Speaking about the vast economic opportunities in the SCO region, he pointed out that SCO accounts for approximately one-third of the global GDP, about 27 percent of foreign direct investments, and up to 20 percent of global trade.

“In this context, the initiative to establish a common space for increasing inter-regional trade and industrial-technological cooperation has never been more relevant,” he said.

He further said, “I propose to instruct our governments and agencies to work out the issue of adopting the SCO New Economic Dialogue Program, covering such areas as, innovative development, digitalization and robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and other industries of the future.”

President Mirziyoyev, while highlighting the issues of the Green Agenda, spoke about the need for closer coordination and practical cooperation within the SCO on issues such as adaptation to climate change, decarbonization and implementation of clean technologies and the development of smart agriculture and water conservation.

Going further, he proposed to develop a joint action plan to support regional environmental projects and the introduction of "green" technologies as part of the Green Belt Program.

To promote tourism in the SCO region he proposed a joint scientific-practical conference on the development of tourism industry of the SCO as part of the anniversary session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization in October this year.

The President of Uzbekistan echoed the sentiments of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he spoke about the need “to step up the activities of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).”

PM Modi, during his earlier speech, had spoken about some countries using cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policy.

PM Modi said, “We have to fight together against terrorism that may be in any form and any manifestation.” 

Taking further his vision to tackle terrorism in the regional and a global level, President Mirziyoyev said that Uzbekistan considers it necessary to speed up the preparation and adoption of major multilateral documents such as the Convention on Cooperation against Cybercrime and the Joint Program to Combat Extremist Ideology.

He emphasized the need to accelerate the adoption of these important multilateral instruments and addressing the root causes of the growth of terrorism in the world.

He said, “The practical implementation of these documents should become an adequate response to the challenges of radicalization and neutralize the attempts of destructive forces to spread their ideology, especially among the youth.”

The President highlighted Uzbekistan’s “principled position on the central role of the United Nations in the settlement of disputes and conflicts, in the search and adoption of compromise solutions in order to ensure peace and stability.”

He further pointed out that “unfortunately, in recent years, there are no significant movements and expected effectiveness in a number of directions of interaction within the SCO. The implementation of some initiatives and documents remains, as they say, on "paper". Our working bodies are bogged down in lengthy negotiations and approval procedures.”