SCO - Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

05/13/2022 | News release | Distributed by Public on 05/12/2022 20:25

SCO holds its second People’s Diplomacy Forum under the motto “People’s diplomacy - mutual understanding for the sake of development”

2022 / 05 / 13

SCO holds its second People's Diplomacy Forum under the motto "People's diplomacy - mutual understanding for the sake of development"

On 11 May 2022, Tashkent hosted the second SCO People's Diplomacy Forum. The event took place in a hybrid format under the motto "People's diplomacy - mutual understanding for the sake of development."

The opening ceremony was addressed by Chairperson of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan Tanzila Narbaeva, Vice-Chairwoman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and Chairperson of the Chinese SCO Committee on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation Shen Yueyue, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming, General Secretary of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Andrey Belyaninov, Chairperson of the Committee for Interethnic Relations and Friendly Ties with Foreign Countries under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan Ravshanbek Kurbanov, and Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Natalia Gherman.

Two plenary sessions on "The Role of Public Diplomacy in International Cooperation" and "People's Diplomacy - an Important Element of Modern Interstate Communication: the Experience of the SCO Member States" were held as part of the forum.

The first Forum, which was organised at the initiative of PRC President Xi Jinping, took place in Wuhan in 2021. The idea behind the forums is to use the potential of NGOs to provide an incentive for integration processes within the SCO, and expand cultural and humanitarian cooperation, including in science, education, culture, sports, tourism, and city-to-city cooperation.