On 16 November 2021, SCO Secretariat hosted a meeting between SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov and head of the International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation for East Asia Pierre Kraehenbuehl, held at the latter's initiative.
The Secretary-General welcomed the ICRC delegation. Proceeding from the resolution adopted at the 20th meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council held in Dushanbe on 15-16 September 2021, Mr Norov told the delegation head about the SCO's current activities and main priorities of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which recently took over the SCO chairmanship after Tajikistan. Special attention was given to humanitarian cooperation, both within the Organisation and jointly with other international agencies, including the ICRC.
The officials exchanged opinions on the current situation in Afghanistan with an emphasis on its humanitarian aspects. Mr Kraehenbuehl informed the Secretary-General on the work of the ICRC in Afghanistan and shared some ideas regarding the possibilities of developing further interaction between the ICRC and the SCO in this area under the Memorandum of Understanding between their two organisations signed in 2017.