Combining UN Experience and SCO Potential

09.10.2009

will contribute to maintaining regional and international security, sustainable development of the region

From the rostrum of the UN Uzbekistan put forward a number of initiatives in the sphere of economy, environment, regional security and cooperation between the UN and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Speaking at the general debates of the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Affairs Minister of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov said: “Uzbekistan as the Chairman of the SCO intends to strengthen its cooperation with the UN and urged the General Assembly to support a resolution.”

According to him, the interdependence of regional and global problems necessitates close cooperation between the UN and regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

“As the current SCO chairman, Uzbekistan intends to intensify cooperation between the UN and the SCO by making cooperation in real partnership. In this regard, we call on UN members to support the draft resolution entitled “Cooperation between the UN and the SCO,” - noted the Minister.

According to the minister of foreign affairs, the effective combination of vast experience of the UN and possibilities of the SCO will strengthen the capacity of regional and international security. In this context, V. Norov drew attention to the twisting the knife in Afghanistan, saying that the Afghan problem has no military solution. He advocated the need for a speedy solution of this country’s pressing problems such as economic, communications and social infrastructure recovery that have been destroyed by war.

Creation of the Contact Group “6+3” consisting of plenipotentiary representatives of the states directly bordering Afghanistan, as well as representatives of Russia, the United States and NATO under the auspices of the UN would help the speedy solution of the Afghan problem. “As President Islam Karimov has repeatedly emphasized, agreement both inside and around Afghanistan could be reached through the implementation of this initiative and bringing the countries directly bordering Afghanistan,” - concluded the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.

SCO brings together Uzbekistan, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Mongolia, India, Iran and Pakistan are SCO observer states. At a summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009, heads of state of the SCO members agreed on granting the status of SCO dialogue partner for the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Belarus.