President to address SCO virtual meeting
President Xi Jinping will attend the virtual 20th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Beijing on Nov 10 amid joint efforts of the member countries to build the regional body into a model of win-win cooperation.
Xi will deliver a speech at the meeting hosted by Russia, the rotating chair of the regional body, via video link, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Nov 4.
The SCO summit comes at a time that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage across the world, and multilateral cooperation is strongly needed to curb the virus and offset the effects of the public health crisis on the global economy.
Observers said that the “Shanghai Spirit” — featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and the pursuit of common development — will be highlighted at the upcoming meeting as the SCO summit creates opportunities for the member states to solidify their consensus on coping with the regional and global challenges.
Yuan Shengyu, director of the Institute of SCO Studies at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said security and economy are two pillars for SCO members to develop cooperation.
Amid increasing global challenges, the regional organization needs to strengthen members’ teamwork in more fields based on the Shanghai Spirit to make it a model for multilateralism and the new type of international relations, Yuan said at a recent seminar in Shanghai.
During last week’s virtual meeting of the SCO economic and trade ministers, the member states reached consensus that they will strengthen solidarity and cooperation in responding to fallout from the pandemic on socioeconomic development in the region, jointly uphold the stability of supply chains and the market and safeguard the multilateral trading system, according to a news release from the Ministry of Commerce.
They also vowed to oppose unilateralism and protectionism, support necessary reforms of the World Trade Organization and intensify cooperation on the digital economy and intellectual property rights protection, the ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry said the heads of state of the SCO member countries will issue statements on the 75th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War during the summit.