On 20 September 2023, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York during the high-level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and an extraordinary meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers Council.
Antonio Guterres welcomed Zhang Ming’s arrival at the UN Headquarters and praised the SCO’s important role on the international scene. He noted that the UN and the SCO were the largest multilateral organisations in the world. The UN attaches great significance to collaborating with the SCO, it is committed to deepening exchanges and contacts, and it hopes that the SCO will support events held under UN auspices and become actively involved in them.
Zhang Ming briefed his partner on the SCO’s development and its current activities and drew attention to the similarity of interests of both organisations, including efforts to maintain regional security and stability and to facilitate development and prosperity. He emphasised the great significance of mutual cooperation. The SCO is ready to expand exchanges and to strengthen coordination with the UN and its specialised agencies, to enrich the practical content of collaboration and to contribute to regional stability and global governance.