Chinese Premier Li Qiang attends the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Islamabad, Pakistan, on October 16, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

The 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was held on October 15 and 16 in Islamabad, Pakistan. 

During the meeting, Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday called for deepening and expanding cooperation within the SCO. The SCO is an important platform for safeguarding regional peace and stability and promoting the development and prosperity of all countries, Li noted, adding that at the Astana Summit in July, President Xi Jinping and leaders of SCO member states reached an important consensus on jointly building a common home featuring solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good-neighborliness and friendship, as well as fairness and justice, Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Li said that China stands ready to work with all parties to translate the consensus reached by the heads of state into effective actions and turn the vision into reality.

Li put forward four proposals for deepening the SCO cooperation.

First, to strengthen strategic alignment based on missions and tasks. Second, to expand practical cooperation in line with development needs. Third, to focus on major risks and actively respond to them. Fourth, to expand people-to-people exchanges in response to public expectations.

The participants of the meeting said that SCO member states, adhering to the "Shanghai Spirit," have continuously consolidated mutual respect and trust, strengthened good-neighborly friendship and cooperation, and constantly improved the level of regional economic integration, which has strongly promoted regional peace, stability, and development, Xinhua reported. 

In the face of a complex and volatile international environment, all parties need to actively implement the outcomes of the Astana Summit, work closely in solidarity and coordination, and strengthen the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Eurasian Economic Union, they noted.

Chinese analysts said the SCO will keep playing a role of stabilizer to strengthen cooperation and security among countries across Eurasia while the world is experiencing profound changes and turbulence.  

Call for cooperation 

China has now assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO for 2024-2025. Experts said China will take this opportunity to better promote the development of the organization, boosting counterterrorism cooperation mechanism, expanding traditional cooperation to new areas including the digital economy, green energy and artificial intelligence.

During his trip to Islamabad, Li also met with leaders from other SCO members including Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Zhaparov, Xinhua reported. 

In the bilateral meetings, deepening trade and economic cooperation, particularly under BRI, is frequently mentioned. 

Chinese analysts said this shows that the China-proposed BRI has already become a significant part of regional integration and development, as well as a bridge to connect the developments of different countries, and in the future, more and more countries will benefit from it, even though a few certain countries or forces are still trying to stigmatize the initiative. 

Li Haidong, a professor from the China Foreign Affairs University, said on Wednesday that during its term in the rotating presidency, China will make efforts to build consensus among SCO members on development and security, to better facilitate the mechanism of cooperation and communication to cope with common challenges and protect the BRI cooperation that benefits everyone. 

China has advantages in fields like e-commerce, green energy and infrastructure construction, and the country is willing to share these with its partners to boost joint development for the whole region. This will ensure SCO cooperation can better serve the demand from many developing countries who desperately need not only investment but also technologies, observers said. 

Some Western countries are attempting to undermine cooperation among SCO members by stigmatizing the organization. For example, Bloomberg published an article in July titled "China and Russia are quietly building a NATO rival." 

"The SCO and NATO are different in nature. NATO is a military alliance, a legacy of the Cold War, and at the beginning, the SCO is an organization for security and development of the region, now the SCO has higher goals on development, interconnectivity and security for more countries," said Cui Heng, a scholar from the Shanghai-based China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation.

Premier Li signed and issued a joint communique with the participating leaders of SCO member states and approved relevant resolutions related to the development of the SCO.

The Heads of Delegations reaffirmed that the Member States intend to further develop cooperation in the spheres of politics and security, trade, economy, finance and investment, and cultural and humanitarian ties in order to build a peaceful, safe, prosperous and ecologically clean planet Earth to achieve harmonious coexistence of man and nature, according to Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs.