2020 / 03 / 05




On March 4, SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov took part in a round table discussion on the theme: “The role of the SCO in advancing peace and security,” organized jointly with the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy. The President of the Institute, Werner Fasslabend, made a welcoming speech.
The event brought together representatives of the diplomatic missions of the SCO member states, as well as experts from various research and analytical centers of Austria dealing with security issues.
V. Norov informed those present about the goals, principles and tasks of the SCO, its statutory bodies and mechanisms of interaction. He drew attention to the existing threats and challenges affecting the common interests of the countries belonging to the SCO and the European Union, as well as to possible areas of cooperation between research and analytical institutions of the SCO countries and the European Union.
In this regard, the participants of the event made a number of specific proposals, including:
- holding meetings of experts from the competent authorities in order to discuss the prevention of terrorism and the application of best practices in this area with the participation of representatives of the EU, SCO, Central Asia, as well as international organizations - UNODC and others;
- Strengthening EU-SCO-OSCE cooperation on preventing and countering transnational threats in Central Asia;
- the development of joint measures by UNODC, the SCO and the EU to combat drug trafficking and reduce demand for them;
- Exchange of experience on international information security and countering extremism in the information and communications sector in the format of the EU, SCO and ASEAN.
The participants generally supported the idea of the Secretary-General to intensify cooperation between the analytical institutions of the SCO and the EU and to use for this purpose the sites of the SCO Forum and the Consortium of Economic Analytical Centers of the Organization's member states.
During the interactive part of the round table, the Secretary General answered questions regarding various aspects of the SCO. The greatest interest was shown in such topics as ensuring security and stability in the Organization’s space, assessing the impact of geopolitical processes on the general situation in the region and the world, mechanisms of interaction between the SCO member states in the areas of trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, as well as possible areas of interaction between the states included in the SCO and the European Union.
http://rus.sectsco.org/for_media/20200305/638818_638129.html