SCO forum kicks off with high expectations

BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The 8th session of the Shanghai Corporation Organization (SCO) forum kicked off Thursday morning with expectations to further strengthen cooperation among member states and develop its cooperation mechanism.

Dmitry Mezentsev, new general secretary of SCO said he hoped that this forum could receive all kinds of views from participants and could help the SCO to improve its work.

The SCO has a mature mechanism, yet it still needs and values views from within and outside the organization, he said, adding the discussions will provide a mirror for the organization to review its shortcuts.

Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping of China delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

He spoke highly of the accomplishments achieved by the SCO in the past years and expressed wishes for the success of the forum.

In an interview to Xinhuanet after the opening ceremony, Mezentsev said that those who attend the forum are very important, high-level figures, and therefore their opinions are highly valued, and will certainly help the organization's development.

This is the first time Mezentsev attended the forum as the general secretary of SCO.

He hoped this forum will provide an open platform for those SCO members and non-members to discuss issues concerning the world, such as regional security issue, Afghanistan issue and so on.

Among the participants are delegates and experts from SCO bodies, members, observers and dialogue partners as well as representatives from international organizations and foreign embassies.

The forum will last two days, covering topics including building new type of national relations and harmonious region, economic cooperation, regional security cooperation and the further development of SCO.

At the end of the opening ceremony, Qu Xing, president of China Institute of International Studies, passed the host to representative from Kyrgyzstan, which will hold the 9th meeting of the forum in 2014.

The 7th session of SCO forum was held in Almaty last year.

The SCO is a regional organization founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

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