On 19 July 2019 in New York, delegates from the SCO Secretariat participated in the High-Level Political Forum under the auspieces of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The theme of this year's multilateral dialogue was "Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality." The forum focused on reviewing the progress in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
SCO Secretariat Adviser Habib Munir read out greetings from SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov in which the Secretary-General noted that the forum has become an important platform for sharing experience in sustainable development and ensuring coordinated socioeconomic and environmental action.
Vladimir Norov stressed that "amidst the turbulent and tense global politics and economy, the SCO serves as a reliable platform for fruitful cooperation in the interests of forming a polycentric world order that promotes supremacy of international law — primarily, the UN Charter, as well as equal, cooperative, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security."
It was noted that the SCO countries support further improvement of the global economic management architecture and believe that unilateral protectionist measures in violation of the WTO regulations undermine the multilateral trade system and threaten the world economy and trade.
Forum participants also got aquainted with the SCO's efforts countering new challenges and threats, environmental protection programmes, development of transportation and agriculture, ensuring food security and building tourist potential of the SCO member states.
The High-Level Political Forum is a major multilateral mechanism in the UN system for reviewing the progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) that was adopted by world leaders at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.