SCO to adopt universal document on tourism

BEIJING. KAZINFORM - At the Tashkent summit the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) plans to sign a program to develop cooperation in tourism between its member states, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Rashid Alimov told mass media of the SCO member states in the SCO Headquarters in Beijing, China prior to the Tashkent summit and the celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BelTA has learned.

The SCO Secretary General stressed that it would be the first universal document in the history of the Organization aimed at the development of the common tourism space based on the established cultural, historical and economic ties in the interest of intensifying tourist exchanges.

In his words, the program will create an efficient legal framework for establishing cooperation in tourism in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and will identify areas of joint cooperation, promote the development of coordinated approaches to the rational use of the resources of the tourism sector. The document will help address tasks of the efficient use of the tourism potential for strengthening and extending the relations of good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation between the SCO nations.

According to Rashid Alimov, today the SCO unites 18 states which, according to various estimates, are home to nearly 44% of the world's population. It is the world's biggest universal regional organization. All 18 member states share common principles and values described in the SCO Charter and build cooperation on the "Shanghai spirit" basis, which secures unity and a high level of consolidation of the association. The organization represents an example of peaceful coexistence of different-scale and differently established states with different cultural, national and religious traditions. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization creates favorable conditions for combining targeted and value paradigms, productive development of the civilizational dialogue, establishment of the communication culture oriented at achieving a joint and mutually beneficial result, the SCO Secretary General said, Kazinform refers to eng.belta.by.