In his speech at online SCO Summit on 4 July 2023, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev assessed the cardinal changes taking place in the system of international relations – the intensification of geopolitical tensions and escalation of conflicts, the emergence of new risks and threats to global stability and sustainable development, the growing challenges in the field of ecology, food and energy security.
“In this regard, there is an urgent need to establish a constructive and trusting dialogue,” he said.
The President of Uzbekistan made concrete proposals for further development of cooperation within the organization.
In particular, Mirziyoyev put forward an initiative to develop a multilateral political document – the Code of Good Neighborliness, Trust and Cross-border Partnership of the SCO. “The adoption of the Code will enable us to identify priority tasks, elaborate common approaches and comprehensive measures for further strengthening multilateral cooperation in the new circumstances”, he said.
The Head of Uzbekistan stressed that the SCO states are leading in terms of industrial and innovative development, have a huge intellectual potential, the richest energy and agricultural resources. In this regard, he pointed out the urgency of forming a common space for increasing intraregional trade and industrial and technological cooperation.
In this context, Mirziyoyev proposed to adopt a program of a new SCO economic dialogue covering such areas as innovative development, digitalization and robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and other industries of the future.
In order to promote projects in these areas, the head of state made a proposal to hold a Week of Innovative partnership of the regions of the SCO member states in Uzbekistan with the organization of a joint exhibition of high technologies.
Touching upon transport and communication issues, the President of Uzbekistan initiated the development of a Unified map of the transport connectivity of the SCO states. This will help to determine the “bottlenecks” and “gaps” and outline priority actions and projects to create a common, integrated transport and transit system.
Turning to the topic of green development, Mirziyoyev spoke in favor of closer coordination and practical interaction on the SCO platform on adaptation to climate change, decarbonization through alternative, solar and wind energy, the development of “smart” agriculture and water conservation.
The head of Uzbekistan emphasized the relevance of conducting a coordinated policy in order to fully disclose the rich cultural and humanitarian potential of the SCO. In this regard, it is proposed to to put into practice the formation of an annual Calendar of Intensive Cultural Exchange and prepare a program of measures to expand youth exchange – “SCO – a space of creative ideas and initiatives of the future”.
Another important issue is the difficult situation in Afghanistan. “All the steps that have recently been taken at the international level have not led to the expected results. The deteriorating social conditions of the population of Afghanistan bear witness to this. At the same time, the amount of humanitarian aid has decreased significantly. We believe that the only way out is through constructive dialogue with the Afghan authorities within the framework of the United Nations”, said President of Uzbekistan. ///nCa, 5 July 2023
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