MINSK, 1 June (BelTA) - Belarus highly appreciates the contribution of Uzbekistan, presiding in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) this year, to the strengthening of the organization, Deputy Head of the Asia, Australia and Oceania Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vadim Senyuta said at the roundtable to discuss opportunities of cooperation between Belarus and the SCO in the format of public diplomacy in the House of Friendship on 31 May, BelTA has learned.
“The Republic of Uzbekistan not only stood at the origins of the organization in 2001 but has also repeatedly made a significant contribution to its development and successful functioning. The SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure is by no means the only evidence of this. Uzbekistan also stands behind the development of SCO public diplomacy dimension,” Vadim Senyuta said.
In his words, the SCO People's Diplomacy Center opened in Tashkent in January 2019. The initiative to set up the center was put forward by the president of Uzbekistan at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Astana in 2017. The main task of the center is to strengthen trust and good neighborliness, interethnic and interfaith harmony, development of inter-civilization dialogue.
