SCO FMs' meet a success, security cooperation top priority: Secretary General Zhang Ming

Beijing: The recent SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa was a success and will lay a new mark on the growth of the eight-member bloc, its Secretary General Zhang Ming has said, asserting that security cooperation remains the top priority of the grouping.

India hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meeting at a beach resort in Goa's Benaulim on May 4 and 5.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who chaired the meeting, said the session gave an opportunity to dwell on the state of multilateral cooperation in SCO, to address regional and global issues of interest and talk about the reform and modernisation of the organisation.

SCO consists of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

“The recent Foreign Ministers meeting held in Goa was a success. We have reason to believe that the New Delhi summit will lay a new mark on the growth of the SCO,” said Zhang, who was a senior Chinese diplomat before taking over as the Secretary General of the Beijing-based grouping.

He said the purpose of the Goa meeting was to prepare the ground for the upcoming summit.

"It is fair to say that our ministers had an in-depth exchange of views and they have completed all the items of the meeting agenda,” he said on Wednesday, adding that their conclave laid a good foundation for the leaders' meeting.

The ministers also had a number of bilateral meetings and candid exchanges on the sidelines of the meeting and discussed issues of common interest, he said.

“So, I believe the Foreign Ministers meeting has achieved the anticipated goals,” he said.

Security cooperation remains the top priority within the SCO, he said.

“So, we address various challenges including terrorism, extremism, separations and drug threat, cross border crimes use of IT for illicit purposes," he said.

The meeting was attended by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, China's Qin Gang, Pakistan's Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Uzbekistan's Bakhtiyor Saidov and SCO Secretary-General Zhang.

“Since taking over the Presidency India has come up with a lot of initiatives on culture and people-to-people exchanges. Their proposals were received and echoed by other member states,” Zhang told a media briefing here on Wednesday, highlighting the outcomes of the Goa meeting.

Besides, a country with “splendid civilisation” and time-honoured history, India also treasures innovation and science and technology, he said.

The SCO summit was expected to be held in early July this year, according to informed sources. Chinese President Xi Jinping along with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to attend.

In his speech at the Goa meeting, Jaishankar said, “As the chair of the SCO, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has articulated India’s priorities as moving towards a 'SECURE' SCO." SECURE stands for security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and environmental protection.

He said India has successfully concluded over 100 meetings and events including 15 ministerial-level meetings in the run-up to the summit which received enthusiastic participation from member states, observers and dialogue partners.

“The New Delhi summit will take up these topics on priority too. To summarise the Indian Presidency over the past several months features highly intensive and effective preparations,” Zhang said.

“The Indian side has proposed a substantive agenda for the summit,” he said.

About a question on differences between some of the member states, Zhang said bilateral differences made no difference to the organisation.

“After India and Pakistan joined the organisation in 2018, the SCO's efficiency has not been affected. We did not encounter any difficulties," he said, adding that the SCO’s pursuit of the principles of non-interference in the member countries' affairs has strengthened cooperation among its members.

“The SCO indeed has no mechanism to resolve differences between member states. No member state has called on SCO to resolve their issues with other member states," Zhang said while responding to a question on border tensions between some Central Asian States which are the members of the grouping.

"Thanks to SCO's basic principles we have been able to create a good atmosphere with cooperation," he said.

“This environment helps our member states to find commonality and common interests between them which enables them to overcome their differences," he said.

The SCO had developed over the years a strong anti-terror force called Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).

RATS formation was regarded significant as the security concerns in the South and Central Asian region increased after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan following the sudden withdrawal of the US troops.

SCO pays more attention to issues like energy, food security, public health, climate change and other issues and established cooperation on those fronts, besides trade and economic fronts, Zhang said.

The organisation is also working on promoting local currency payment mechanisms among member states, besides setting up a development bank of its own, he said. "The SCO is working on this issue on cross border payment mechanism. We would like to promote free-flowing goods and technology," he said.

The organisation has established a number of cooperation mechanisms working to create necessary legal and institutional arrangements for this, he said, pointing to various meetings by officials of the finance ministries of member states.

Experts are carefully analysing the differences in regulatory legislation and current settlement in local currencies. They are working to identify restrictive factors, its development and prospect for the expansion of the use of local currency in the payment settlement, Zhang said.

"Also, member states are discussing how to establish SCO Development Bank. We are discussing to set up such a bank and special account," he said.

He said SCO’s popularity is on the rise as more countries have applied for its membership.

Iran is in the process of becoming an SCO new members, he said, adding that the organisation has 14 dialogue partners and six more countries have applied for its observer status.

With Saudi Arabia joining as an observer in the SCO, the organisation is set to make forays into the Middle East as a number of Gulf countries have expressed interest in joining the grouping, Zhang said.

He sought to dismiss the contention that China, as the founder member of the SCO, is using the organisation to challenge the US and NATO, saying it is just media speculation.

“SCO will not compare itself with NATO. SCO is not a political and military bloc and its aim is about cooperation,” he said.

The groping is also in talks with UN peacekeeping forces, Zhang said.

Some SCO members are taking part in pace-keeping operations. Discussing how to step up cooperation with UN peacekeeping participation, he said.