Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- An international conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the SCO has ended in Shanghai. The conference participants include heads of leading research institutes and think tanks, high-ranking diplomats, prominent scientists and analysts from the Shanghai G8 countries.

Speaking at the second session on SCO problems and ways to solve them, Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sanjar Valiev noted that over 20 years the SCO has become an effective factor ensuring security, stability and sustainable development at the regional and global level.

In his opinion, today the organization acts "as one of the strong pillars of the architecture of global and regional security." The expert paid special attention to the initiatives of Uzbekistan to help stabilize the situation in Afghanistan by investing in the development of the railway, energy and educational infrastructure of the Islamic Republic.

In this regard, he drew the attention of the participants to the high-level International Conference “Central and South Asia: Regional Interconnectedness. Challenges and Opportunities”. Having outlined the goals and objectives of its holding, as well as the role of the SCO member states in this process, the expert invited his colleagues to take an active part in the work of this conference.

In turn, Guan Guihai, Executive Vice President of the Institute for International and Strategic Studies of Peking University, stressed that the SCO member states, given the rich accumulated experience, should proceed from common interests when setting goals and priorities for the further development of the Organization.

As the specialist emphasized, it is necessary to develop the skills to neutralize differences within the SCO and to intensify the interaction of the member states in the field of economic cooperation, which will lead to sustainable development and stability throughout the SCO space.

According to Batyr Tursunov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the SCO Secretariat, holding events of this format allows to share ideas on priority areas of interaction between scientific and analytical communities of the SCO family countries, which has a positive effect on the development of the Organization.

The diplomat focused on the measures taken by Uzbekistan, which is initiating the launch of new mechanisms for practical interaction. These include interregional transport and transit corridors, digital development, the search for new points of economic growth, consolidation of the efforts of the SCO countries in the fight against climatic and environmental threats.

Summing up the results of the conference, Vice-Rector of the Shanghai University of Political Science and Rights Hu Jiling noted that the conference was held in the format of a constructive dialogue. During these two days, the experts managed to share their ideas and opinions, exchange experiences and come to a consensus on many issues. According to her, against the background of the aggravating situation in the world, the SCO must react in a timely manner and adapt to the realities of the modern world.

The SCO was founded on 15 June 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Later, in 2017, they were joined by India and Pakistan. Four more countries - Belarus, Afghanistan, Iran and Mongolia - today have the status of observer states and intend to become full-fledged participants in the future. Thus, today the SCO unites about 60% of the territory of Eurasia with a total population of more than 3 billion people.