On April 3, 2026, a meeting was held in Moscow between the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Nurlan Yermekbayev, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov.
According a statement from the SCO Secretariat, the parties held a substantive and engaged exchange of views on the ways to forward the SCO’s development and its positioning in the current and future global context.
The statement pointed out that Sergey Lavrov had positively assessed the active role of the SCO Secretariat in improving its Organization’s work and in submitting proposals on various aspects of cooperation within the organisation. Lavrov further spoke in favor of enhancing the Secretariat’s autonomy in current matters.
Nurlan Yermekbayev, the SCO Secretary-General noted the significant role of Russia in advancing cooperation across the SCO space, as well as the importance of the initiatives put forward by Moscow in the context of strengthening ties of the Organization.
The Secretary-General emphasized the neutral international status of the SCO Secretariat, which in its work is guided solely by the interests of the Organization as a whole, implementing the decisions of its collective bodies, such as the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Council of Heads of Government, and the Council of Heads of State of the SCO member states. (GSF)
