From 10 to 13 June, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming made a working visit to China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where he met with XUAR CCP Secretary Ma Xingrui and Chairman of XUAR Erkin Tuniyaz, and visited the cities of Yínng and Kashgar, the China-Kazakhstan border crossing and the Khorgos International Centre for Border Cooperation, and Torugart Pass, a border crossing between China and Kyrgyzstan.
At his meeting with the region’s leadership, the SCO Secretary-General thanked the Chinese side for its warm welcome. He pointed out that Xinjiang, as the closest Chinese outpost to Central Asia and one of the junctions on the Eurasian Bridge, enjoys unique geographical advantages and ideal conditions for cooperation with the outside world, especially within the SCO. He expects that the XUAR leadership will take advantage of the situation, open new opportunities, actively participate in cooperation within the SCO in transport, agriculture, tourism, medical care and education, and bring "Xinjiang momentum" to the development of the Organisation.
Ma Xingrui, for his part, stressed that Xinjiang attaches great importance to the development of practical cooperation with the SCO countries, particularly those of Central Asia. Work is underway to carry out the initiatives of Xi Jinping and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, as well as to accelerate the implementation of the Silk Road Economic Belt project and establish the Asia-Europe Golden Corridor. He expressed the hope that the SCO Secretariat would continue to support XUAR development and promote deepening Xinjiang's participation in the Belt and Road project, expanding cooperation with SCO countries in the economy, trade, transport, investment, agriculture, culture, education and humanitarian exchanges, accelerating high-quality social and economic development, and enhancing the effectiveness of shaping the new architectonics of development.