On 19 November 2019 the UN headquarters in New York hosted a meeting between SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov and Director of the UN Secretariat Europe and Central Asia Division Levent Bilman.
During the meeting, the SCO Secretary-General noted that cooperation with the UN is a priority for the SCO in addressing the challenges of countering international terrorism and extremism, regional economic development, and cultural cooperation.
He emphasised that the holding of regular joint activities between the SCO and the UN on pressing international problems testifies to the close cooperation between the two organisations in countering modern challenges and threats.
Levent Bilman praised the progress in developing interaction between the two organisations and noted that one of the UN tasks is to deepen and expand cooperation with regional organisations. He emphasised that the SCO is one of the UN's priority regional partners in countering modern problems and in the sustainable socioeconomic development of the Eurasian region.
Vladimir Norov and Levent Bilman discussed the prospects for further deepening the SCO's interaction with the UN and its specialised agencies, holding joint events and implementing bilateral projects, and agreed to continue working contacts at the senior and expert levels.
The meeting took place as part of the third High-level Special Event "The United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: cooperation to promote peace, security and stability: preventing the linking of terrorism with organised crime and its financing through drug trafficking" in New York on 19 November 2019.