SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming took part in the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and in the work of its sub-forums.
On 18 October 2023, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Zhang Ming attended the opening ceremony of the Third High-Level Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and made a speech at the high-level green development sub-forum on Building a Green Silk Road, Harmonious Coexistence between Humankind and Nature.
He noted that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had become prominent in the SCO space and was well received by the member states and the international community. The leaders of the member states, who attended the SCO summit in July, reaffirmed their support for the BRI and praised the current effort to jointly implement the project.
Commenting on the great importance of green development for the SCO, Zhang Ming presented a number of related SCO documents, specifically the SCO Environmental Cooperation Concept and Plan for its Implementation, the SCO Green Belt Programme, the Programme of Cooperation in Using Renewable Energy Sources between the Authorised Bodies of the Member States, the Joint Statement on Cooperation in New Types of Fuel, and on Energy-Sector Modeling, and the Programme of Cooperation in the Digital Economy. The year 2024 was declared the SCO Year of the Environment and a resolution was adopted to hold an SCO-UN high-level environmental event in 2024.
Zhang Ming stressed that the SCO states prioritised energy security, water security, and the Aral Sea-related environmental issue. He called on the international community to take concerted efforts to develop and implement joint measures aimed at dealing with these and other issues. He stated that the SCO countries would, like before, abide by the principle of openness and cooperation, participate in the dialogue of civilisations, work jointly to implement the BRI, and build a clean, wonderful, safe and stable world in the SCO space and throughout the world in general.
Zhang Ming granted an interview to the SCO member states’ media on the sidelines of the forum.