President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, during his working visit to China, addressed the 25th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin.
The summit was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Referring to the adoption of key documents, including the Tianjin Declaration, he expressed confidence that their implementation would further energize the SCO’s activities and reinforce multilateral cooperation between its member states.
Underscoring the SCO’s international standing, Japarov noted that the organization has established itself as a multilateral institution consistently upholding a world order based on international law with the UN at its core.
He highlighted the signing of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border treaty and the trilateral treaty between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan on their border junction point as important contributions to regional peace and security.
The President emphasized that both documents are a significant contribution of the states to achieving the main goals of the SCO — maintaining peace and security, strengthening mutual trust and developing mutually beneficial cooperation in the region.
«These decisions clearly demonstrate the ability of the participating countries, guided by the «Shanghai Spirit», to find mutually acceptable solutions to the most sensitive issues, thereby strengthening the architecture of regional stability, good-neighborliness and long-term development,» he said.
Sadyr Japarov noted that the Kyrgyz Republic will begin its fourth chairmanship of the SCO tomorrow, and as a state that stood at the origins of its creation, it sees this as an opportunity to give a new impetus to the development of the organization, strengthening its global role, as well as promoting further deepening of friendship and good-neighborliness.
The head of state emphasized that Kyrgyzstan’s chairmanship will be held under the motto «25 years of the SCO: Together Towards Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity», and also outlined the priorities.
The first is ensuring long-term stability. The republic will continue to increase collective efforts aimed at countering threats and challenges to the security of the SCO member states. First of all, this concerns countering terrorism, separatism and extremism.
In this context, Sadyr Japarov noted that the center for combating transnational organized crime, which is being created in Bishkek on the initiative of Kyrgyzstan, will make a significant contribution to the common cause of combating illegal activities of international organized crime groups in the SCO space.
Secondly, the realization of the potential of economic cooperation. In this context, the Kyrgyz Republic proposes to accelerate the resolution of the issue of establishing an effective financial mechanism for the organization, including the creation of an SCO development bank, a development fund and an investment fund, thereby promoting regional economic integration.
«The Kyrgyzstan’s chairmanship also proposes to develop multilateral cooperation to create favorable conditions for international road and rail transport, which also includes the creation of new transport routes and the effective use of the transit and transport potential of the SCO member states,» the president noted.
He also identified digitalization as a priority.
During its upcoming chairmanship, Kyrgyzstan proposes holding the SCO Youth Digital Forum and is ready to contribute to the implementation of joint initiatives aimed at digital transformation in the organization’s space.
Speaking about the fact that the states are fully faced with the consequences of climate change, which are no longer an abstract threat but a reality, Sadyr Japarov emphasized that the joint efforts of the SCO countries play an important role in containing global warming.
«In this regard, we propose that the SCO states intensify our cooperation in the fight against climate change and the green economy by expanding joint «green» projects and promoting initiatives,» he said.
Cooperation between the SCO member states in the cultural, humanitarian and tourism spheres contributes to strengthening friendship and bringing peoples closer together.
The head of state noted that Cholpon-Ata, located on the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake, is approved as the tourism and cultural capital of the SCO for the period of Kyrgyzstan’s chairmanship.
Within this framework, a number of events are planned, including the anniversary Issyk-Kul «intellectual» forum, first held in 1986 on the initiative of the outstanding writer and thinker of our time Chingiz Aitmatov.
Sadyr Japarov also invited cultural and sports delegations of the SCO member states to take part in the next World Nomad Games, which the Kyrgyz Republic plans to hold in the fall of 2026.
In conclusion, the President emphasized that Kyrgyzstan, as the chairman, will actively work with all participating countries, observers, dialogue partners and permanent bodies of the organization to implement common goals and objectives, and also invited the heads of state to take part in the next SCO summit, which will be held in Bishkek.
In turn, the heads of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization wished Kyrgyzstan success in its chairmanship.
