SCO RATS Council holds 45th meeting in Tashkent

The session was chaired by Pakistan.

Delegations from Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan attended, along with representatives of the SCO RATS Executive Committee. SCO Deputy Secretary-General Batir Tursunov joined as an honorary guest.

The meeting focused on regional security issues and approved reporting documents on SCO RATS activities for 2025, to be submitted to the Council of Heads of State.

Special concern was expressed over the situation in the Middle East, including military strikes on Iran’s territory. The Council stressed that force is unacceptable and called for peaceful resolution of disputes based on dialogue, mutual respect, international law and the UN Charter, highlighting the importance of maintaining Iran’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity, as well as the need for restraint by all parties.

The Council offered condolences to the victims’ families and emphasized that attempts to discredit the relevant authorities of the SCO member states are unacceptable.

Participants also discussed evolving terrorist, separatist, and extremist threats, including in Afghanistan and Syria, reaffirming the need for stronger joint efforts and improvement of security cooperation mechanisms.

Participants also reviewed the implementation of previously adopted decisions, the results of the work by relevant expert groups for 2025, as well as the execution of the SCO member states’ Cooperation Program in combating terrorism, separatism, and extremism for 2025-2027. The results of joint counterterrorism exercises and information operations conducted in 2025 were approved.

Participants agreed to hold the 12th meeting of the heads of border services of the competent authorities of the SCO member states in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 2026. Belarus will host the 12th international scientific and practical conference on cooperation among SCO member and observer states in combating terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

People’s Republic of China will host counterterrorism exercises among the relevant authorities of SCO member states to detect and prevent the use of the Internet for terrorist, separatist, and extremist purposes. In the Republic of India, a seminar for the relevant authorities of SCO member states will focus on countering the use of the Internet for such purposes, along with a joint information operation to discredit terrorist, separatist, and extremist organizations that aim to undermine the constitutional order of SCO member states in the global information space, including through the use of information and communication technologies. In 2027, Kazakhstan will host the joint counterterrorism exercises among the relevant authorities of the SCO member states.

The next SCO RATS Council meeting will take place in September 2026 in Pakistan.