The Council of National Coordinators of SCO member states, chaired by Kyrgyzstan, began work in the new Heilongjiang Hall of the SCO Secretariat on 9 April 2019.
SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov opened the session with a welcoming address and declared the new Heilongjiang Hall open.
The new hall, built with the financial support of the Chinese Government, has a contemporary design mixed with traditional features of Chinese interior decor. It is equipped with all the necessary office furniture and the latest video, audio and computer equipment. It can support simultaneous translation in several languages at the same time.
The agenda of the national coordinators' session features over 60 issues relating to the main activities during Kyrgyzstan's presidency of the SCO.
During the session, the national coordinators intend to focus on the practical aspects of preparing and staging the main SCO political event this year, which is the 19th meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council, scheduled for Bishkek in June, as well as other aspects of the SCO's current activities.
Students of the secondary school at the Russian Embassy in Beijing attended the opening of the meeting. All of them take part in the Model SCO interactive educational game in which participants simulate the activities of one of the main SCO structures, the Council of National Coordinators. Model SCO has become a good tradition of the SCO Secretariat and the Russian Embassy, highlighting the young generation's growing interest in the SCO's activities aimed at consolidating mutual trust, friendship and neighbourly relations between the countries of the region, and prosperity for the SCO member states.
The Heilongjiang Hall will officially open shortly with the participation of distinguished representatives of diplomatic missions of SCO countries and other embassies accredited in China, as well as representatives of Chinese academic, cultural and business circles and Chinese and foreign journalists.
The Council of National Coordinators, as one of the SCO's key bodies, coordinates the SCO's activities and the cooperation of respective ministries and agencies of SCO member states.