“This meeting is special for Belarus. This is the first time we are participating in the SCO Heads of Government Council event as a full member of the organization. We sincerely thank each of the countries for the support for our bid to join the SCO. This bid was our conscious choice as this organization has a lot of potential, sticks to the principles of mutual trust and win-win partnerships and its members respect each other’s cultural diversity and prioritize joint development. We are ready to actively engage in all areas of the SCO activities. As the president of Belarus said at the Astana summit in July this year, we will become an active player in the Shanghai team, we will work hard to promote and strengthen this international platform,” Roman Golovchenko emphasized.
He also congratulated Pakistan on its first chairmanship of the SCO Heads of Government Council and thanked it for holding the meeting at a high level.
Belarus has been participating in the SCO since 2010 as a dialogue partner and since 2015 as an observer. In July 2024, Belarus became a full member of the organization.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization, the establishment of which was announced on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC). Initially, it was the "Shanghai Five" - Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The foundation for the unification of countries with different political systems, traditions and values within the SCO was the sphere of security and trade and economic relations. The common goal was to ensure a favorable international environment based on the principles of the "Shanghai spirit", the main content of which is mutual trust and benefit, equality, mutual consultations, respect for the diversity of cultures and civilizations, and the desire for joint development. The founding document of the organization is the SCO Charter, signed in June 2002.
