SCO Secretary-General meets with CPC Committee Secretary of Shaanxi Province Hu Heping in Xian

On 9 September 2019, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov held a meeting with CPC Committee Secretary of the Shaanxi Province Hu Heping.

The parties discussed further interaction between Shaanxi Province and the SCO Secretariat and SCO member states, focusing on cooperation in logistics, agriculture and education.

Mr Norov noted that Shaanxi was one of China's foremost provinces with an advanced economy, rich history and culture, and considerable transport and communications potential.

"The SCO is emerging as a space of rapidly developing economies, infrastructure construction, road and railway projects, transport hubs and logistics centres as well as joint industrial and production complexes based on the principles of international cooperation. In this context, stepping up the transport and logistic cooperation between SCO regions is currently a central objective," he said.

For his part, Mr Hu Heping said that his province, given its location in central China, could be useful to the SCO countries in terms of logistics. "Our province is home to international airports, rail terminals and the country's biggest dry port, all of which are ready to do what they can to promote transport and communications cooperation with the SCO countries," he stated.

They also discussed agricultural personnel training. Mr Hu Heping said that Shaanxi would host the 26th China Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Fair on 22-27 October. He also expressed readiness to organise a roundtable on the sidelines of the exhibition to discuss SCO agricultural cooperation.

The SCO Secretary-General stressed the role of SCO cultural and humanitarian projects. "The SCO will continue to promote intercultural dialogue in the interests of nations living in the SCO space. The presentation of the SCO's Eight Wonders and the Yoga and Tai Chi Day as part of the Eurasian Economic Forum 2019 is a practical step towards implementing the SCO's main humanitarian goals," he said.

The parties noted that the Eurasian Economic Forum had become an important and prestigious venue for a broad-based exchange of views on how to develop breakthrough approaches in the context of efforts to form a new system of trade and economic ties in the vast Eurasian space.

The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere.