Uzbekistan, chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2022, plans to hold more than 80 international events and to develop a program to boost intraregional trade and step up cooperation in the field of security.
Uzbekistan outlined the enhancing economic cooperation and strengthening the organization's potential in the field of security as the top priorities. Tashkent intends to expand the SCO agenda through new areas, such as the creation of mechanisms for development of digital technologies and innovation. Strengthening dialogue in the public health sector also remains relevant in the context of the ongoing pandemic.
The authorities have developed a special roadmap and concept for the chairmanship. "There is no doubt that all events under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the SCO will be held at the highest level," Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said. The next meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO will be held on September 15-16 in Uzbekistan, which, according to him, will offer an opportunity to tap the potential of the organization in a new way, to strengthen its role and significance.
In September 2021, at a summit in Dushanbe, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined the priorities and tasks of the chairmanship. These include strengthening the capacity and authority of the organization, intensifying efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region, reducing poverty and ensuring food security. Uzbekistan called for the development of a plan for the development of intraregional trade, which will include measures to eliminate trade barriers, approximate technical regulations and digitalize customs procedures. Mirziyoyev proposed to establish an expert forum on information security and introduce the institution of the SCO Goodwill Ambassador. Among the priorities were also named the adoption of a program of industrial cooperation, the preparation of an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of tourism and a program for infrastructure development in the SCO space.
In connection with the situation in Afghanistan, Mirziyoyev pointed to the need for a common approach to the situation in this country, and also suggested holding regular high-level meetings in the SCO-Afghanistan format, expressing his readiness to organize the first of them in Tashkent. According to the national coordinator of Uzbekistan for SCO affairs Rakhmatulla Nurimbetov, the country has already begun preparations for this meeting, it is expected to be held this year.
On September 17, 2021, following a meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council, the chairmanship of the organization passed from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan. Earlier, Uzbekistan chaired the SCO three times - in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
