On 24 January 2019, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to China Shakhrat Nuryshev at the SCO Headquarters.
During the meeting, the officials discussed issues related to cooperation between the SCO Secretariat and Kazakhstan during Kyrgyzstan's presidency of the organisation. In this context, they emphasised the preparations for and organisation of the next summit of the SCO Heads of State in Bishkek.
Mr Norov noted that since the establishment of the SCO, Kazakhstan has been an active founding state that initiated many different ideas, projects and programmes within the SCO. At the recent summit in Qingdao, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev set clear priorities for his country within the SCO: to strengthen regional security, to promote economic cooperation, to develop the transit and transport potential, and to deepen cultural ties between the SCO member states.
The officials had a constructive discussion of topical issues related to promoting political, trade, economic and cultural cooperation within the SCO, and exchanged views on the key events scheduled to take place at the SCO Headquarters in 2019.
The ambassador said: "The organisation has fantastic cultural riches. In order to promote cultural ties between nations, in addition to the calendar New Year and the Chinese New Year — Chunjie, it is important to also celebrate Nowruz, the New Year celebrated by various countries in Central Asia."
The parties expressed their solidarity on the need to spread the SCO's ideas, peaceful goals and tasks more widely as well as to promote the "Shanghai spirit" in the international community.