SCO Secretary General calls promotion of peace and development a priority in 2025

In the coming 2025, the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be aimed at promoting peace, security and development in the area of the organization. SCO Secretary General Nurlan Yermekbayev said this on January 3.

Yermekbayev, who assumed his post on January 1, 2025, noted that he personally has the task of establishing the work and efficiency of the SCO secretariat, the main executive body of the organization.

"In general, the work of the SCO in 2025 will be aimed at promoting peace, security and development in the SCO space. And personally, my task as secretary general of the Organization is to establish and strengthen, improve the effectiveness of the SCO secretariat <...> and to assist member states in achieving the goals and tasks they set for the Organization," Yermekbayev told RIA Novosti.

An important task is to ensure that the work within the SCO has practical and tangible benefits for the peoples of the countries that make up the organization, he added.

Earlier on January 3, Yermekbayev specified that the issue of creating the SCO's own currency is still under discussion. The SCO's payment systems are currently integrated with other currencies, he said.

The SCO was established June 15, 2001. The members of the organization are Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, Iran and Belarus.