The fifth conference of justice ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states (in the format of 8) was held in Tashkent on 20 October 2017; members of observer states — Afghanistan, Belarus and Iran, SCO Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure — also took part.
The heads of delegations discussed a broad range of issues on developing cooperation for rendering legal aid in civil and criminal cases for SCO member states.
The parties stressed that it is necessary to deepen cooperation between SCO countries in the field of law and justice in order to ensure protection of the lawful rights and interests of citizens and legal entities of the SCO member states, based on respect of universally recognised principles of international law and in accordance with the national legislations and international treaties of the SCO member states.
The participants agreed to continue sharing their experience to develop information technologies for rendering legal services (notary services, advocacy, registration of acts of civil status), and improving the system for processing applications of individuals and legal entities by integrating modern information-communication technologies.
Following the meeting, rules and regulations of the working group of experts for forensic activities and legal services that were valid as of the period of the ministerial conference were approved and a Joint Statement was signed.