SCO Secretary-General reviews Kazakhstan’s 25-year participation

Kazakhstan is one of six founding states of the SCO, established in 2001.

This June 5 marked the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). 

During its 2023–2024 chairmanship, Kazakhstan helped shape common positions on international issues, including the Israel-Palestine conflict and terrorist attacks in SCO member states, he said addressing the expert meeting The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Evolution and Transformation for 25 years.

One of the key highlights was the SCO Summit in 2024 in Astana. It introduced the SCO Plus format, bringing together members, observers, partners, and international organizations.

Following the summit, the Astana Declaration and some 20 decisions were adopted.

Among them were the 2024–2029 Anti-Drug Strategy and its development action plan, and 2030 Energy Cooperation Strategy and Economic Development Action Plan.

Nurlan Yermekbayev also stressed the need for modernization, greater involvement of academic and expert communities, and new platforms for dialogue.

He said the SCO now includes 10 member states with a population of 3.4 billion or 40% of the world. It accounts for 25% of global GDP and 15% of world trade. In 2024, intra-SCO trade grew 7%, reaching nearly 700 billion US dollars.

Besides, Mongolia and Afghanistan are SCO observer states, 15 more countries are dialogue partners, and 20 more have expressed interest in cooperation with the SCO.

Earlier, Kazakhstan proposes creating SCO platform to combat internet fraud.