Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan on September 1, and paid State visits to Kyrgyzstan and Egypt, marking a landmark diplomatic tour amid the 25th-anniversary observance of the SCO.
Under the theme "Hand-in-Hand toward Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity," the SCO summit brought together heads of member states, observer states and representatives of international organizations to map out its medium-and long-term development agendas amid complex global and regional uncertainties and challenges.
In his speech at the summit, Xi said the SCO's biggest achievement is that it has steadily grown into a new type of regional cooperation organization with the largest land area and population and enormous development potential and its most valuable spiritual asset is that it pioneered, and has since followed invariably, the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations, and pursuit of common development, China's Foreign Ministry readout said.
Xi said the SCO's important experience for cooperation is that it has found the right way of coexistence featuring non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, enabling regional countries to build a common home together.
For the SCO to shoulder its historical responsibility and steer the course for the future, Xi called on the SCO to put development first, take security as a key goal, focus on a people-centered approach, cement the foundation for everlasting friendship, and promote dialogue and consultation for more equitable and orderly governance.
"China stands ready to work with all parties to uphold the Shanghai Spirit, implement the SCO Ten-Year Development Strategy, strive for higher-quality growth, and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind," Xi said.
Participating leaders signed the Bishkek Declaration and approved the Protocol on Amending and Supplementing the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Regulations on the SCO Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats, the Regulations on the SCO Anti-drug Center, and adopted 28 outcome documents covering security, economic, people-to- people and cultural cooperation, as well as organizational development.
During his State visit to Kyrgyzstan, President Xi talked with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. The two countries signed a joint statement on the high-quality development of the comprehensive strategic partnership for a new era, a bilateral treaty on permanent good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, as well as more than 30 cooperation documents covering trade, transportation, science and technology, education, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
Following the events in Kyrgyzstan, Xi arrived in Egyptian capital Cairo on the evening of September 1. He held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and signed a joint statement on further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership.
Xi called on China and Egypt to support each other, deepen cooperation, and continue advancing the building of a China-Egypt community with a shared future amid a turbulent international and regional landscape, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi also raised a four-point proposal on building a new security architecture in the Middle East, saying that China supports countries in the region in developing good-neighborly and friendly relations.
While briefing reporters on the conclusion of Xi's attendance at the SCO Bishkek Summit and State visits to Kyrgyzstan and Egypt, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the Bishkek Summit has injected vitality into regional development, fostered synergy for global multipolarity, and provided fresh impetus for improving global governance.
Wang stressed that Xi's visit to Kyrgyzstan has strengthened the bonds of permanent good-neighborliness and friendship between the two countries and his visit to Egypt is a "milestone" that "fully demonstrates the strategic, leading and exemplary nature of China- Egypt relations."
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