The meeting was attended by the Foreign Affairs Ministers Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Wang Yi, the People's Republic of China, Erlan Abdyldaev, the Kyrgyz Republic, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Federation, Sirozhiddin Aslov, the Republic of Tajikistan, Abdulaziz Kamilov, the Republic of Uzbekistan, Rashid Alimov, the General Secretary of the SCO, Eugene Sysoev, Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure, and Nurlan Onzhanov, Assistant to the President of Kazakhstan on International Issues.
In the welcoming speech, the Head of the State noted the importance of the meeting of the SCO member states’ foreign ministers on the eve of the Organization's summit in Astana.
- We attach great importance to the upcoming summit this June when chairing the SCO. Our chairmanship is taking place against a backdrop of complex processes in the region and the world, the President of Kazakhstan said.
Nursultan Nazarbayev noted a number of issues being on the SCO agenda. Among them are intensification of work on approving the Concept of Cooperation of the Organization in the Field of Environmental Protection, endorsement of the SCO Convention on Counteracting Extremism and the adoption of a statement on this issue, as well as the Anti-Drug Strategy of the Organization’s member states.
- Economic and cultural and humanitarian cooperation within the SCO is of great importance. One more important issue on the agenda of the forthcoming summit is the adoption of a decision on completing the procedure for admission of India and Pakistan as the SCO full members. It is also expected that the Astana Declaration will be adopted, where our plans for the future will be defined, the Head of State said.
