Tashkent, 11 May 2022 (TDI): People’s Diplomacy Forum of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) kicked off today in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The theme of the People’s Diplomacy Forum is “Public Diplomacy – Mutual Understanding for the Sake of Development”.
The event is being held in a hybrid format and lasts from today to 12th May. The agenda of the forum is to discuss the relevance of public diplomacy in the contemporary world.
In addition, the participants will also discuss the efforts of Uzbekistan to devise this institution in the activities of the SCO, along with the promotion of the rich tourism potential and cultural diversity of the organization.
Moreover, the participants will also deliberate upon methods to exploit the tools of public diplomacy for strengthening the multi-dimensional relations between the countries of the SCO.
The forum has two plenary sessions; “The Role of Public Diplomacy in International Cooperation” and “People’s Diplomacy – an Important Element of Modern Interstate Communication: the Experience of the SCO Member States.”
The SCO countries, aim to strengthen cultural-humanitarian cooperation, boost contacts between civil society institutions and inter-parliamentary ties, and develop the required conditions for extending collaboration between youth and women organizations.
Along these lines, the forum will adopt the Tashkent communiqué of the SCO people’s diplomacy. Tanzila Narbayeva, the Chairperson of the Senate of Oliy Majlis welcomed the forum participants.
In her opening remarks, she said that the evolution of the contemporary world was influenced by the emergence of new challenges and threats in the way of sustainable & inclusive development.
Tanzila Narbayeva underscored that international xenophobia and racism, terrorism, radicalism, and extremism, require concerted international and regional action along with the collective adoption of cogent preventive and response measures.
Moreover, the deterioration of confidence among the leading stakeholders in the global system, the challenges of post-pandemic development as well as climate change, and many other problems need a joint global and international response, she stressed.
People’s Diplomacy Forum is being attended by Tanzila Narbayeva, Chairperson of the Senate of Oliy Majlis, Acting Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, & the Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, Chairman of the SCO China Committee for Good Neighborliness, Friendship, & Cooperation; Shen Yueyue.
The SCO Secretary-General; Zhang Ming, Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia; Natalia German, & Chairman of the Committee on Interethnic Relations & Friendly Ties with Foreign Countries under the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan; Rustam Kurbanov are also in attendance. Other dignitaries include Farhat Asif, the President of the Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IPDS) from Pakistan.
 kicked off today in Tashkent, Uzbekistan... Read more){kind=link}