DUSHANBE, September 17. /TASS/. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations do not plan to set up any new military or economic associations with supranational bodies and reject any bloc approaches to global problems, according to an SCO declaration adopted on Friday at a summit in Dushanbe.
"The SCO has entered a responsible period in its development," the document says. "Bearing this in mind, the member states note the need to deepen and expand cooperation within the organization, without the formation of a military-political union or an economic integration association with the formation of supranational governing institutions."
The declaration stresses that "the member states stick to a policy that excludes bloc, ideology-driven and confrontational approaches to the resolution of pressing problems of international and regional development." The member nations will respect the right to choose the way of political, economic, social and cultural development with due account of historical experience and national specifics of each state. "They will continue to promote inter-civilization dialogue, general peace, progress and harmony, equal partnership of states. They will continue to strengthen the SCO to ensure progressive growth and prosperity, to implement the sustainable development agenda for a period of up to 2030," the document says.
According to the declaration, the organization is open for other countries that meet the criteria and terms listed in the organization’s normative documents and undertake to observe the goals and principles of the SCO Charter and provisions of other international agreements and documents of the organization.
"The member states stand for a multi-polar world order based on generally recognized principles of international law, multilateralism, equal, common, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security, global and regional security and stability, denial of confrontation and conflicts. Taking into account the opinions of the member states, they reiterate the topicality of initiatives to promote cooperation in building international relations of a new type in the spirit of mutual respect, justice, equality and mutually beneficial cooperation and in agreeing a common vision of the idea of a community of the common future of humankind," the declaration says.
The SCO countries expressed their intention to continue to develop cooperation in the spheres of politics and security, trade, economy, finance and investments, cultural and humanitarian ties with a goal of building a "peaceful, safe, prosperous and ecologically clean planet Earth."