During a working visit to Kunming on 28 August 2020, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov met with Secretary of the Kunming Municipal Party Committee Cheng Lianyuan.
The sides exchanged views on Kunming's cooperation with the SCO countries' regions, the implementation of the city's cultural and tourism potential and joint projects.
The SCO Secretary-General thanked the Kunming administration for its all-round support of the SCO marathon. "It would have been impossible to hold the annual marathon with over 20,000 participants without it," Vladimir Norov noted.
He also spoke highly about the initiative of the SCO-China Centre for Youth Exchanges at Kunming University for creating a vocational training interaction platform and proposed preparing the relevant concept.
Vladimir Norov informed Cheng Lianyuan about the idea of holding the 5th Kunming marathon online and organising so-called SCO marathon races with a limited number of runners (SCO Running Group) to be held simultaneously in several Chinese cities in October.
He pointed out the value of holding a videoconference, within the framework of the SCO Kunming Marathon, on the importance of sports and traditional medicine in health, adding that the SCO-China Centre for Youth Exchanges at Kunming University has the capability and experience for organising it.
In turn, Cheng Lianyuan updated the SCO Secretary-General on the administration's activities to stop the spread of the coronavirus infection and to stimulate the city's development in trade, the economy, tourism and education.
He noted the SCO marathon's positive influence on tourism, saying that the number of people visiting Kunming and the Yunnan province had soared.
Cheng Lianyuan said that he shared Vladimir Norov's opinion when it comes to a careful preparation of a concept for a vocational training cooperation platform at the SCO-China Centre for Youth Exchanges in Kunming University.
The SCO Secretary-General and the Kunming Municipal Party Committee Secretary noted the huge economic and tourism potential of Kunming and the importance of promoting ties in tourism, education and agriculture within the framework of region-to-region SCO cooperation.