ASTANA, April 3. /TASS/. The next annual meeting between the secretaries of the security councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states will be held in China in 2025, the press service of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reported following the 19th annual meeting of security council secretaries from SCO member states held in Astana.
"A protocol of the 19th annual meeting of security council secretaries from SCO member states is signed on the results of the meeting. The next meeting will be held in 2025 in the People’s Republic of China," the statement reads.
It added that the delegations welcomed Iran as a new SCO full-fledged member, as well as the upcoming admission of Belarus. "The security council secretaries discussed the issues of further development of cooperation in countering terrorism, separatism and extremism, illegal drugs and arms trade, transnational organized crime, as well as interaction within the international information security field. The participants firmly condemned terrorism in all its forms, urging the international community to reinforce global cooperation in this struggle with evil," the press service pointed out.
The security council secretaries reaffirmed their intention to jointly ensure regional security and stability. "They stressed the necessity of further improving the system of interaction in cases of terrorist, separatist and extremist threats, including combatting transborder organized crime and cutting the flows for illegal migration, which are also used for terrorist purposes," the message reads.
The meeting was attended by secretaries of security councils from Kazakhstan, Russia, India, Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and SCO RATS Executive Committee Director Ruslan Mirzayev, attended the meeting on behalf of the standing bodies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and representatives of Belarus and Mongolia attended the meeting on behalf of the SCO observer states.