Meeting of SCO Heads of State Council

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in the meeting of the Heads of State Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on 17 September.

The SCO summit took stock of the progress made by the organization over the past 20 years. The heads of state discussed further steps to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and other issues of regional and international cooperation.

“Serious global challenges of today clearly suggest that time is coming for a historical stress test for our organization, perhaps the most serious one in its entire 20-year history,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President noted that the SCO has enough competences to simultaneously address a wide range of tasks: from security, economic development, building new financial and humanitarian systems to the implementation of large-scale infrastructure projects.

“However, in order to convert these advantages into something useful and practical, it is necessary to join efforts and combine our potentials for the benefit of our peoples,” he stressed.

“The SCO is one of the world's largest regional organizations. This status gives resources and opportunities not to play by the rules dictated by external forces. After all, the disastrous consequences of imposing such rules are now obvious to everyone,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President went on saying that the member states of the organization are now facing tremendous external pressure, but they are capable of maintaining peace at home and defending a multi-polar and fair world order for the future of humanity where everyone's interests will be taken into account.

“To achieve these goals, it is necessary to accelerate the integration of global development strategies, to expand cooperation in the field of security, to step up joint efforts in the field of infrastructure, industrial parks and high technologies,” the head of state emphasized.

Speaking at the Heads of State Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested creating an alliance in healthcare.

“Despite the fact that the governments of Russia and China have provided many countries with humanitarian aid in the form of vaccines, vaccine production technology and personal protective equipment, our opponents are increasingly manipulating this topic using grounds that have little to do with public health. Therefore, we need to team up now more then ever and set up an alliance in the field of healthcare,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

In his opinion, the SCO member states need to intensify cooperation in the production of vaccines and medicines, and not only against coronavirus.

The President went on saying that thanks to joint efforts, primarily collaboration with Russia, Belarus has launched vaccine production and offers a visa waiver to foreign citizens who want to get a COVID-19 vaccine in Belarus.

“The vaccine should become a common public good available to everyone,” the Belarusian leader is convinced.

“The SCO can play a more active role in setting regional conflicts in Central, Southeast Asia, Middle East and the planet in general,” the head of state stressed.

In his words, the pressing global challenges such as drug trafficking, terrorism, extremism and illegal migration are of Belarus' concern as well. Therefore, the country supports the decision initiated by Tajikistan to set up the SCO anti-drug center.