On 20 January 2017, Moscow hosted the consultations of SCO member states on the current issues of regional security, the development of economic and cultural cooperation at the level of SCO deputy foreign ministers, with the participation of SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) Yevgeny Sysoyev. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended the opening ceremony.
In the environment of friendship and mutual understanding, participants in the consultations discussed regional security and stability, as well as the further development of the multifaceted interaction within the SCO.
"The global situation is changing constantly, the number of challenges and threats to security is not diminishing, and in some areas, it is only growing. This requires SCO's special attention to the issues of further expanding interaction in all areas of cooperation, but first of all, in the area of security, which has been the key direction of the organisation's activity," Mr Alimov said. "It is obvious that no sustainable development is possible without stability."