Speech by Secretary-General Zhang Ming at the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

I am honored to join you in this meeting. At the outset, I congratulate Pakistan on hosting the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) for the first time, and extend my gratitude to the Pakistani side for its meticulous preparations and thoughtful arrangements for this meeting. I also congratulate Prime Minister Roman Alexandrovich Golovchenko on representing Belarus at the SCO Meeting of Heads of Government for the first time. I am confident that Belarus will make an important contribution to the Organization.

Today the world is in the midst of profound and complex changes. As the world’s largest comprehensive regional organization, the SCO adheres to the Shanghai Spirit, taps the potential of cooperation, and improves the quality of cooperation, thus playing a unique and constructive role in maintaining long-term, sustained peace, stability, prosperity and development in the SCO region and the international community.

To this end, the SCO Astana Summit in July this year released the Initiative on World Unity for Justice, Harmony and Development, designated 2025 as the “Year of Sustainable Development” of the SCO, and reached consensus on a series of important issues, such as cooperation in politics, security, economy and trade, investment and financing, energy, ecology, as well as on the modernization and reform of the Organization. In order to efficiently implement the consensus of the leaders for the benefit of the Member States and their peoples, and to keep up the practical and positive momentum of the SCO’s development, I would like to share a few observations and proposals:

First, the vitality, influence and prestige of the SCO among the peoples of the Member States is determined by the concrete results of cooperation. And this goal depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of follow-up implementation of the responsible mechanisms. It is recommended that the working mechanism of the SCO be improved, and that the Meetings of Heads of Ministries be instructed to report regularly to the Council of Heads of Government in an appropriate form on the follow-through of resolutions in their responsible areas. The Secretariat has made such proposals at the National Coordinators’ Meetings before. The Secretariat could be responsible for monitoring the operation of this working mechanism.

Second, in order for the SCO to bring a sense of fulfillment to the people, there is an urgent need to establish its own independent, steady and efficient financing mechanism, which provides sustained funding and facilitate the implementation of SCO projects. At present, the Member States are discussing proposals on the establishment of the SCO development bank and development fund (special account), as well as the SCO investment fund. It is expected that the parties will maintain a constructive position and strive for substantive progress on the relevant issues at an early date. In this process, consideration could be given to the participation of non-governmental organizations, such as the newly established SCO Association of Investors and the SCO Interbank Consortium, in expert discussions.

Third, the gradual realization of the free flow of goods, capital, technology and services is one of the fundamental goals of SCO economic cooperation. The estimated trade volume among SCO Member States reached $650 billion US dollars in 2023, which highlights the solid foundation and good prospects for trade facilitation and liberalization in the SCO. It is recommended that the parties further leverage various platforms such as border cooperation centers, pilot zones, transport and logistics hubs, expositions and subnational cooperation mechanisms, while at the same time work hard to eliminate legal and technical obstacles to increasing the share of local currency settlements, so as to maximize the economic and trade bonds in the SCO region.

Distinguished Heads of Delegations,

With the support of Member States, the Secretariat has long been dedicated to fulfill its duties and improve its work by enhancing efficiency and its capacity of execution. Against the backdrop of the growing number of members and the rapid expansion of cooperation areas, our team has overcome various difficulties and challenges to provide strong support for one of the largest regional international organization with the smallest secretariat. Meanwhile, the Secretariat has also organized for two consecutive years the SCO Forum on the thematic year, which has been a pioneering and successful practice in enriching the agenda of the SCO thematic year and expanding the Organization’s influence. I hope that this innovative endeavor will be supported by the Member States and become institutionalized.

As the outgoing Secretary-General who has served for almost three years, I would like to emphasize that the Secretariat has little self-interest, since it is motivated only by the interests of the Organization, and that supporting the Secretariat in carrying out its duties is to support the development of the SCO. I am also deeply convinced that to be a “good” Secretary-General of the SCO, one must be not only a wonderful “secretary”, but also a “general” with adequate mandate and resources. I also hope and trust that the Member States will, as always, show their interest in and support for the Secretariat in fulfilling its duties and responsibilities, and, within the framework of improving the work of the SCO, support the Secretariat in expanding its mandate, enhancing its efficiency, optimizing its personnel system, creating additional functional units, and improving its human resources, financial, translation and other supporting services.

Distinguished Heads of Delegations,

Today is the last time that I attend the Meeting of Heads of Government as Secretary-General of the Organization. Allow me to express my heartfelt gratitude to the distinguished Heads of Government of the Member States for fully supporting my work over the past three years. I am confident that the entire staff of the Secretariat will, as in the past, act with a high sense of responsibility and mission, dedicate themselves to their duties, and deliver even better achievements for the advancement of high-quality cooperation in various fields of the SCO.

Thank you.