SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov met with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed at UN Headquarters in New York on 19 November 2019.
The SCO Secretary-General expressed his gratitude for the special attention from the UN Secretariat to the development of the partnership with the SCO, which was shown, among other ways, when the Resolution on Cooperation between the two organisations was adopted at the last UN General Assembly session. This opens new opportunities for joint activities to achieve the goals on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Mr Norov informed Ms Mohamed of the SCO's activities in politics, security, trade, economic and cultural ties, the development of transport, communications, tourism and entrepreneurship as well as cooperation in youth policy and gender equality.
He noted that the SCO member states had reached significant results in their joint fight against terrorism, extremism and illegal drug and substance trafficking thanks to the adoption of a package of interstate documents on these areas and the establishment of an inclusive and well-organised system of cooperation between competent ministries and agencies within the SCO as well as the holding of regular joint events.
The SCO Secretary-General noted the positive trend in the development of cooperation between the SCO Secretariat and UN's specialised agencies. He talked about joint events and SCO projects with UNODC, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, UN ESCAP and other organisations as well as the plan to implement bilateral memorandums between the SCO and FAO, UNWTO and UN OCHA, which were signed this year.
Amina Mohamed praised the SCO's activities to sustain peace and stability in the region and in the active search for the best solutions to a wide range of the socioeconomic problems in Eurasia.
She stressed that the increasing intensity in the development of relations between the UN and the SCO proves that the organisations have similar positions and interests on most issues on the global agenda of international relations.
The officials also discussed the prospects for further cooperation between the two organisations, developments in Afghanistan and ways to ensure stability in the region as well as to strengthen the position of women in society.
The meeting took place as part of the third High-level Special Event "The United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: cooperation to promote peace, security and stability: preventing the linking of terrorism with organised crime and its financing through drug trafficking" in New York on 19 November 2019.