Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The 15th meeting of the SCO forum in the format of a video conference was held on 29 September. The online meeting, organized by the National Institute for Strategic Studies of Kyrgyzstan in cooperation with the SCO Secretariat, was attended by the SCO Secretary General, Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The online forum was held with the participation of 35 experts and specialists from 18 leading research institutes of the Organization’s member states, including the Indian Council on International Affairs, the Institute of World Economy and Politics under the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, the Chinese Academy of International Affairs, the Center for Global and Strategic Studies of Pakistan, Center for East Asian and SCO Studies MGIMO Russia, Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan and others.

The Uzbek side was represented by leading experts from the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Information and Analytical Center for International Relations.

The SCO Forum is a multilateral, expert mechanism formed to promote and provide scientific support to the Organization’s activities. The Forum serves as a platform for clarifying the tasks and principles of the SCO, expanding its ties with academia, as well as encouraging exchanges of views between scientists and experts in the fields of politics, security, economics, ecology, new technologies, humanitarian and other fields.

The relevance of the event is determined by its organization on the eve of the summit of the heads of the SCO states and the 20th anniversary of the "Shanghai" cooperation format.

During the online dialogue, an exchange of views took place on the current situation, challenges and threats in the SCO space, new approaches to developing multilateral cooperation, building sustainable peace and stability within the Organization during a pandemic. The experts also discussed the possibilities for improving the scientific research activities of the SCO Forum.

In his welcoming speech, SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov noted that the coronavirus pandemic showed the transboundary and large-scale nature of modern threats to the security and stable development of the SCO member states. The destructive power of this viral disease turned out to be much stronger than any type of terrorist act, with which the world, in particular the SCO, has been actively fighting over the past 20 years.

In these conditions, the SCO, relying on the principles of the Shanghai Spirit, has convincingly confirmed its potential as an effective platform for mutual support and response to emerging challenges, building work to overcome the political, social, and trade and economic consequences of COVID-19.

V. Norov pointed to a noticeable growth in the role of the SCO in solving problems of ensuring security and expanding cooperation in the economic and humanitarian spheres. Over the period of its existence, the SCO has become an important factor in strengthening relations and mutual trust in the region.

Today, the Organization is a responsible participant in the modern system of international relations, a reliable platform for fruitful cooperation in the interests of forming a polycentric world that ensures the supremacy of international law, primarily the UN Charter.

As the Secretary General noted, the SCO welcomes inclusive negotiations in Afghanistan and is ready to promote the integration of this country into the regional processes in Central Asia. The importance of restoring the economy of this country through the development of the transit potential of Afghanistan through the construction of new railways along the routes "Mazar-i-Sharif - Herat" and "Mazar-i-Sharif - Peshawar" was noted.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Deputy Director of the ISMI under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sanjar Valiev noted the importance of strengthening cooperation in the field of security, ensuring readiness for joint actions to combat terrorism, extremism and countering in the information space.

In this regard, he drew attention to the initiative put forward by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the 75th anniversary session of the UN General Assembly to hold an international conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Joint Action Plan for the implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia. The organization of this event with the participation of representatives of the SCO, CIS and UN will allow discussing further directions in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

S. Valiev emphasized the need to create effective mechanisms for cooperation in the field of biological safety, to ensure a higher level of readiness to collectively confront new epidemiological threats. The international code of voluntary commitments of states proposed by the head of Uzbekistan during a pandemic will also contribute to the effective overcoming of global crises in the future.

The most important task facing the SCO at the present stage, according to the expert, is a radical strengthening of the economic component of cooperation. According to him, "the peoples of the SCO countries, having experienced the heavy impact of the crisis caused by the pandemic, expect joint actions to restore the sectors of the economy most affected by the pandemic."

According to S. Valiyev, it is necessary to speed up the coordination and start the construction of infrastructure projects in Central Asia, located in the geographical center of the SCO. Continue the creation of a network of transport corridors in the region, without which the interconnection of the countries of the "Shanghai family" will not develop. Establish banking and financial institutions to support economic growth.

The deputy head of the ISMI expressed confidence that the implementation of these projects meets the long-term interests of all the SCO countries, and the Organization itself should now show its best qualities that it possesses and come out of this crisis even stronger.

In this context, representative of the Information and Analytical Center for International Relations Kristina Djurakulova noted that Uzbekistan traditionally advocates building up economic cooperation with partners in the SCO, which will allow the country to develop an open export-oriented economy and integrate into world economic relations.

According to the expert, there is an increase in the trade turnover of Uzbekistan with the members of the organization. In 2019, it grew by 20% compared to 2018.

At the end of 8 months of 2020, China (16.4%), Russia (14.6%) and Kazakhstan (7.2%) were included in the country’s top three foreign trade partners.

At the same time, according to K. Djurakulova, the development of the transport and logistics sector is of decisive importance for deepening economic ties. The countries of the region are located in the center of Eurasia, at the intersection of the interests of major economic powers and at the crossroads of existing and promising transport corridors from East to West and from North to South.

The implementation of such infrastructure projects as the construction of railways and highways will give a powerful impetus to the development of mutual trade and an increase in the inflow of investments in the SCO space.

In this regard, K. Djurakulova called for support of the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to create a Regional Center for the Development of Transport and Communication Connectivity under the UN auspices, which was put forward at the 75th sessions of the UN General Assembly. In her words, the creation and operation of the Center under the auspices of the UN will contribute to the effective and mutually beneficial use of international transport corridors together with neighboring countries, as well as the formation of a single, ramified and outwardly integrated transport space in Central Asia to strengthen the relationship between North and South, West and East.

In turn, the head of the ISMI department under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sadullo Rasulov emphasized that in the fight against coronavirus infection, the member countries demonstrated an exceptionally high level of solidarity, interstate interaction and mutual assistance in the field of medicine and healthcare.

In his opinion, the emergence and development of a vaccine in Russia and China testifies to the scientific and technological potential of the SCO member states. The expert praised the consolidation of efforts within the Organization to enhance cooperation in the field of medicine and health. The need to support international initiatives for wide access to the results of the development of necessary drugs and vaccines against coronavirus was noted

It was emphasized that the interaction established to date indicates the readiness for cooperation between the SCO member states on vaccination against coronavirus.

The speeches of the Forum participants from Pakistan voiced high assessments of the achievements of the SCO in the fight against drug trafficking. In order to increase the effectiveness of cooperation in this direction, the President of the Center for Global and Strategic Studies of Pakistan, Sayyid Khalid Jaffari, proposed to establish cooperation between the SCO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

At the same time, Russian and Indian experts noted that despite the presence of close ties in the security and cultural and humanitarian spheres, the potential of economic cooperation within the SCO remains not fully realized. This point of view was supported by Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of International Affairs Rong Ying and Director of the corporate fund “Institute of World Economy and Politics under the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation” E. Saltybaev, pointing out the need to take urgent measures to develop new approaches to the development of cooperation in the economic sphere in the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

New opportunities for expanding and deepening economic cooperation in the SCO space are opening up taking into account the growth of regional cooperation in Central Asia and the involvement of Afghanistan in these processes.

Experts agreed that the pandemic has become not only a challenge, but also demonstrated the possibility of developing digital technologies in the field of economy, trade, education, medicine, transport. At the same time, L. Parkhomchik, a leading expert of the Institute of World Economy and Politics under the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, stressed that against the background of the dynamic development of digital technologies in everyday life, issues of information security are becoming especially relevant.

In this context, experts propose to coordinate and develop a regional strategy to counter threats in the information space.

It is estimated that tourism remains one of the most affected industries at this stage. By the end of 2020, tourist activity in the world will decrease by 45-60%, and the losses will amount to about 2 trillion dollars. Around 75 million jobs are expected to be cut. Taking this into account, the head of the sectoral development department of the Center for Strategic Research under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan U. Davlatov stressed that the SCO member states should support the exchange of information, jointly strive to restore tourist flows at the pre-crisis level after the lifting of travel restrictions. During the period of restrictions, it is necessary to develop and present new general approaches for the functioning and development of this industry.