On 15-19 July, a delegation of the SCO Secretariat led by Secretary-General Vladimir Norov held consultations with the Uzbekistani government and its agencies as part of the preparations for the upcoming meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council in Tashkent.
Mr Norov was received by Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and held meetings with his deputies Elyor Ganiyev and Aziz Abdukhakimov, Agriculture Minister Zhamshid Khodzhayev and First Deputy Foreign Minister Ilhom Nematov.
The officials discussed matters related to the preparations and the organisation of the key trade and economic SCO event — Heads of State Council meeting scheduled to take place in Tashkent in the autumn, as well as the events before it such as meetings of the Economy Ministers Council, the SCO Council of National Coordinators, the Special Working Group on Development of Transit Potential and expert meetings on agriculture and the SCO financial and administrative activities.
The Secretary-General presented the draft list of the documents to be signed during the heads of state meeting. He confirmed the Secretariat's readiness to do everything possible to timely and competently develop all the draft documents and agree upon them with the member states. A commission and working groups comprised of SCO Secretariat officials had been established in order to do this and a corresponding Action Plan approved.
Vladimir Norov also reported on the work carried out to deepen the trade and economic cooperation within SCO. Several events in this area were scheduled to take place in the second six months of 2019 with cooperation of the Secretariat, such as SCO Day at the sixth Chinese International Logistics Exhibition in Lianyungang this September and the roundtable discussion on cooperation in agriculture within SCO on the sidelines of the Yangling Agricultural Fair this October. Representatives of economic organisations and public institutions, businesspeople and entrepreneurs from the member states are expected to take part in them.
The Uzbekistani government showed its comprehensive support to the SCO Secretariat's efforts to strengthen the mutually beneficial multilateral trade and economic cooperation between the member states as well as its readiness to cooperate in order to hold at a high level the meetings of the SCO agencies and mechanisms in Uzbekistan.