On 20 September 2023, an ad hoc meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council took place under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan on the sidelines of the High-Level Week at the UN General Assembly’s 78th session in New York.
Meeting attendees included the SCO foreign ministers, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and Deputy Director of SCO RATS Executive Committee Artur Golovanov.
In his speech, Zhang Ming briefed the meeting participants on the SCO’s development achievements and highlighted the commitment to follow the principles of the Shanghai Spirit and the main guidelines of the SCO, to implement the agreements reached by the SCO heads of state at the SCO Heads of State Council meeting in New Delhi and at previous summits, to promote modernisation efforts in the SCO and unite efforts in dealing with common tasks and challenges.
The parties exchanged views on improving the SCO activity, boosting cooperation with international organisations, above all the UN, and promoting interaction in the political, economic and cultural areas.
They also expressed a common understanding of the need to further boost exchanges with the UN and other international and regional organisations and to conduct joint work, being guided by the goals and principles of the UN and SCO charters, as well as international law, in the interests of the consistent development of the SCO.