Kassym-Jomart Tokayev joins SCO Plus summit

In his remarks, the Kazakh President highlighted that under China’s chairmanship, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has significantly strengthened its position in the international community.

According to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the SCO Plus format, launched last year in Astana, has been seamlessly integrated into the Organization’s broader agenda. It has boosted global interest in the SCO and is becoming an important platform for a productive exchange of views on ongoing pressing issues.

This is extremely important given today’s alarming global trends, which are well known to everyone here. There is no need to repeat them. What I would like to underline, however, is that the causes and consequences of this situation are closely linked: the lack of mutual trust, insufficient responsibility for the future of the world order, and the underestimation of multilateral diplomacy and the potential of international organizations. Another conclusion is equally clear: no country is capable of addressing today’s challenges alone. In these highly complex circumstances, the SCO, in my view, must focus on a constructive, forward-looking agenda, develop strategic goals aimed at resolving conflicts, expand broad-based dialogue in defense of peace, and ensure the sustainable development of our states,” the President stated.

The Kazakh leader also urged joint efforts to prevent armed conflicts from reaching the ‘point of no return.’

In today’s challenging geopolitical environment, it is essential to support the United Nations as a universal and independent organization. At the same time, there is a pressing need to reform the UN, particularly its key body – the Security Council, stressed President Tokayev.

"We fully recognize the complexity of such reform, but there is no alternative. If the current generation of leaders fails to take up this task, it could ultimately and irreversibly undermine the trust of states in the UN."

Tokayev lauded the Global Governance Initiative, proposed by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping at the summit, describing it as a long-term vision for the development of the international community.

According to him, this initiative complements collective efforts to build a fairer and more sustainable world order.

The President also expressed gratitude to SCO leaders for their strong support of the process of transforming the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) into a full-fledged international organization.

As reported earlier, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).