SHANGHAI, September 5. /TASS/. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an important platform for laying the basis for international law, since the existing institutions are in crisis, Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuichenko said on Tuesday.

"We must improve our work, improve the activities of justice ministries, make regulation sectors more pattern-based with the use of the best practices in other states. The goal of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is to ultimately create a ‘community of shared destiny.’ There is a deep, I would even say, sacred meaning here. And this means that our international regulation, our international relations should rise to a new level," he said at the 10th meeting of SCO justice ministers in Shanghai.

He stated with regret that the basic principles that were laid down after World War II have been forgotten. "First of all, it is the principle of equality, non-interference into domestic affairs, the principle of states being independent and sovereign. The platform that is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization makes it possible to form, with renewed vigor, these basics of international law because, regrettably, the existing institutions are in a state of crisis," he said.

The Russian minister stressed the importance of justice for states and international cooperation. "To date, justice constitutes a large part of international cooperation between states. Why? Because, first, it is about people. Judicial bodies offer a lot of social and other services to people in Russia and China, as well as in other SCO member states," Chuichenko said.

"Apart from that, justice ministries take part in creating the rules regulating the functioning of a state and are the basis of its efficiency. That is why we spoke today that these rules, i.e. laws, normative acts must keep up with the times, be wise and optimal because only wise laws can ensure the supremacy of law. Law can hardly be expected to govern if laws are outdated or unwise. And this is our task: to coordinate this work and use the best practices in our states on these or those matters," he added.