ASTANA. May 21 (Interfax) - The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will take place in Astana in July under the slogan of "strengthening the multilateral dialogue and striving for lasting peace and development", Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
"This agenda fully matches one of the main goals of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - the goal of ensuring peace, security and stable development in the region," Tokayev said at a meeting with SCO countries' foreign ministers in Astana on Tuesday.
"In this context, we have great expectations of the Council of Foreign Ministers. I am certain that the results of your work will contribute to the success of the upcoming meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in Astana," he said.
"This is the reason why Kazakhstan proposed developing the SCO's Initiative on World Unity for a Just Peace and Harmony. We believe, the adoption of this document and the SCO Astana declaration at the upcoming summit will help consolidate international efforts aimed at resolving conflicts in different regions of the world," Tokayev said.
Further steps to reform the SCO deserve individual attention, he said.
"The member states' active participation in working out specific decisions on improving our organization's work deserves a high assessment. Kazakhstan, for its part, has presented balanced proposals on transforming the SCO into an efficient multilateral mechanism of cooperation. We count on further support for these initiatives," Tokayev said.
The SCO should always stay focused on fighting the so-called "three evils," he said.
"Kazakhstan is unwaveringly committed to deepening interaction in this area. The program of cooperation in countering terrorism, separatism and extremism agreed by us will become a practical step here. Completing the work on the SCO anti-terrorism strategy, in turn, will bolster ongoing mutual measures to combat the drug threat, including steps to block terrorism financing channels. All of these achievements are a good example of coordinated and specific steps to ensure stability and security across the organization's space. And this is also important from the point of view of strengthening our positions within the global architecture of international relations and raising the SCO's authority and role worldwide," Tokayev said.
Tokayev also touched upon cybersecurity, where he believes focus should be placed on detecting cyber threats well in advance and developing mechanisms to ensure the stable functioning of the SCO countries' information infrastructure.
Tokayev also thanked the foreign ministers for their active work ahead of the SCO's Astana summit.
"We hope that this summit will become a milestone for our organization, which has a very important place in the world architecture," he said.