On July 8, Cui Li, vice-president of the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), addresses the SCO Year of Ecology 2024 Forum, part of the Green Development Forum of SCO Countries, in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province.

On July 8, Cui Li, vice-president of the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Committee (GNFCC) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), attended and addressed the SCO Year of Ecology 2024 Forum, part of the Green Development Forum of SCO Countries, in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province.

Cui congratulated the SCO Secretariat on holding the SCO Year of Ecology 2024 Forum, and noted that the congratulatory letter sent by President Xi Jinping to the Green Development Forum of SCO Countries has greatly encouraged and strongly supported all participants.

The SCO has always been upholding the "Shanghai Spirit", adhering to inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, empowering cooperative development, and successfully built itself into a constructive force for safeguarding common interests and addressing risks and challenges in the region, Cui said.

In terms of green development, SCO countries, sharing common concepts, tasks and goals, work together to address environmental challenges, jointly promote green transformation, and advance sustainable socioeconomic development, she added.

Cui said that China is actively exploring the path of green development in collaboration with all parties. As a specialized organization for promoting people-to-people diplomacy within the SCO framework, the GNFCC is committed to promoting exchanges in such areas as ecological protection, technological innovation, healthcare, and poverty alleviation, and contributes to the development of the SCO through tapping into its unique role as a social organization.

Since China officially took over the rotating presidency of the SCO for 2024-2025, and proposed that 2025 be designated as the SCO Year of Sustainable Development on July 4, the GNFCC is ready to take this opportunity to expand channels for people-to-people diplomacy, provide platforms for exchanges, and gather consensus on green development cooperation, Cui noted.

Efforts will be made to advocate for wide participation, jointly practice the philosophy of green development, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and share the benefits of green development, she added.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and Aziz Abdukhakimov, minister of ecology, environmental protection and climate change of Uzbekistan, also attended the SCO Year of Ecology Forum and delivered speeches.

Officials from environmental protection departments as well as experts, scholars and media representatives from China and other countries also participated in the event.