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E-mail Xinhua, July 6, 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the Independence Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan, July 4, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for building a common home of prosperity and development, and called on the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to ensure security in the face of real threat from the Cold War mentality.
Xi made the appeal when attending the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO and the expanded meeting of the SCO, or SCO+.
Common prosperity
Noting that modernization is the shared goal of all countries in the SCO, Xi proposed at the SCO+ meeting that 2025 be designated as the SCO Year of Sustainable Development so as to help the SCO members focus on fostering new forces for growth.
"We will promote regional cooperation through platforms such as the demonstration base for agricultural technology exchange and training, the local economic and trade cooperation demonstration area, and the ecology and environment innovation base," Xi said.
"We will also expand local currency settlement, and actively promote the establishment of an SCO financing platform," he added.
China welcomes all parties to use the Beidou Satellite Navigation System and participate in the development of the International Lunar Research Station, said Xi, adding that China will provide at least 1,000 training opportunities on digital technology to fellow countries in the SCO in the next three years.
Initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative promote regional economic integration, while SCO member states are working to promote cooperation based on mutual respect and common interests, said Abdulaziz Alshaabani, a Saudi researcher at Al Riyadh Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
Iran's Interim President Mohammad Mokhber said that the SCO offers great opportunities for cooperation in the fields of trade, production, energy, transportation, agriculture, customs, and telecommunications, as well as the development of technology, which should be used for the benefit and the welfare of nations and the establishment of sustainable peace in the region and around the world.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the Independence Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan, July 4, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
Shared security
When attending the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, Xi called on the SCO members to ensure security in the face of real threat from the Cold War mentality.
He urged the member states to adhere to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, address complex and intertwined security challenges through dialogue and coordination, and respond to the profoundly changing international landscape with a win-win approach, so as to build a world of lasting peace and universal security.
The SCO founding members made a historical decision to pursue peaceful development, commit to good-neighborliness and friendship, and build a new type of international relations, Xi said, adding that the "Shanghai Spirit" has become a shared value and guiding principle for the member states.
Noting that real security is premised on the security of all countries, Xi said at the SCO+ meeting that the SCO countries need to respect the development path of respective and independent choosing, and support each other in safeguarding core interests.
"The SCO should move faster to build a universal center and its branches to address the challenges and threats to the security of SCO member states and the Anti-Drug Center. It should strengthen intelligence sharing and conduct joint operations to jointly safeguard security in our part of the world," Xi said.
As the current chair of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, China will do what it can to ensure the success of the Interaction-2024 joint counterterrorism exercise and other events, Xi added.
The SCO has established itself as an effective and highly-valued structure within the international security system, with strong prospects for further development, said Bolat Nurgaliyev, former Secretary-General of the SCO.
In the context of the intertwined global turmoil, SCO countries must unite and maintain common security, which is the foundation of the SCO, said Chen Fengying, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
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