On 7 January 2025, the SCO Secretariat hosted a meeting between the Organisation’s Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Xu Guixiang, Party Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Xu Guixiang congratulated Mr Yermekbayev on assuming his duties as SCO Secretary-General and went on to brief him about the latest social and economic achievements of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He noted the close ties and fruitful cooperation between the autonomous region and the SCO member nations in various sectors, including politics, the economy and culture, and emphasised that the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has always viewed the SCO as one of its most important partners. In addition, the official said that the region was ready to host more SCO events and to deepen cooperation with it in all its aspects with the support and assistance of SCO Secretariat and Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev.
Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Karamay Municipal Committee and Deputy Mayor of Karamay, a city in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Han Min took part in this meeting. In his remarks, he discussed the city’s contribution to the SCO, including building the Xinjiang branch for the China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Centre and holding the China-SCO international conference on sharing best practices in digital technology. He said that he hoped that the SCO Secretariat would maintain its support for the corresponding projects and take practical steps to carry them out.
Mr Yermekbayev greeted Xu Guixiang as the first local government official to visit the SCO Secretariat after he assumed his duties as the Organisation's Secretary-General. In his remarks, the Secretary-General focused on the opportunities for the SCO and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to work together and deliver tangible results in the economy, trade and humanitarian exchanges. Mr Yermekbayev praised the government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for its efforts to help build a branch office for the China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Centre and hosting the 2023 Year of Tourism SCO Forum. He went on to reaffirm the Secretariat’s commitment to assist the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in every possible way within the SCO to enable it to achieve even greater results as part of this cooperation.