From the perspective of Uzbekistan, what is the SCO’s greatest achievement to date? What does Uzbekistan anticipate for the future of the SCO?

As I mentioned above, the role and influence of the SCO have been on the rise year after year, both regionally and globally. It has already become an important force that can exert great influence on international relations. The continually increasing number of SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners all attests to that fact.

Following the existing tradition, Uzbekistan firmly supports and strictly observes the cooperation principle that conforms to the interests of all member states, helping to continually raise the SCO’s profile on the world stage.

As everyone knows, Uzbekistan has strictly followed the targets, missions and principles stipulated in the SCO Charter which are all aimed at safeguarding regional security and sta- bility. Their purpose is also to raise the social and economic development level of member states as well as the international profile of the SCO. What’s more, my country attaches particular importance to the principles of non-confrontation, non-blockade and openness of the SCO.

We will continue to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with other member states and carry out a variety of large-scale projects together. This is of great significance under the cooperation framework of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. Thus, the prime task for pragmatic cooperation is to further strengthen economic cooperation with more confidence. Firstly, we should jointly draw up plans and carry out large-scale investment cooperation projects in the fields of transportation infrastructure, hi-tech manufacturing, the service industry and tourism.

What should be stressed is that to safeguard regional development, it is of great importance to establish a multilateral financial mechanism. Thus, in my opinion, it is the right time to establish an SCO development bank.

In expanding regional cooperation, Uzbekistan believes that it is necessary to jointly develop transportation corridors, which can help connect Central Asian countries with international markets. In this respect, it is important for the SCO to establish an integrated transnational transportation management system among member states. We need to formulate a