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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,

We are meeting at a time when complicated processes are taking place in the global economy, as the President of Kazakhstan and the President of the People’s Republic of China said just now.

The real threat has emerged close to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s borders that a military operation will be carried out against a sovereign state without the United Nations Security Council’s sanction. 

I support what the presidents of China and Kazakhstan said just now, namely, that this creates substantial, serious threats for global security in general, and for our security too. I will not go further into this issue right now. We will have the chance to discuss it. 

In any case, as you know, we are actively pushing the initiative to place Syria’s chemical weapons under international control. We think this is a very important initiative and hope for its successful implementation in order to create the conditions for peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis.

In this context, we have a clear priority to consolidate the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states’ cooperation efforts to uphold the norms and principles of international law and the United Nations’ leading role in international affairs. 

I also fully agree with the concerns that were expressed on the situation in Afghanistan in connection with the international coalition’s troop withdrawal. We are aware of all the difficulties in the domestic political situation, and the problems in security and combating the drug threat.

”The time is ripe to take a thorough look at how we can further develop and strengthen SCO. The instructions to our foreign policy agencies to draft a strategy for the organisation’s development through to 2025 are particularly important.“

The drug threat deserves our particular attention. We all know that profits from drug production are used to finance terrorist organisations, and the drug problem itself is also extremely serious and constitutes a real threat for our countries.

Of course we have a lot to think about today, and as part of our working process we need to look at what we can do to help Afghanistan, rebuild its economy and social sector, and strengthen its security. 

Last year, Russia proposed establishing a universal centre to respond to security threats and challenges using the regional anti-terrorist structure, RATS, as a base.

I believe that establishing this kind of mechanism within the SCO would take our joint efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and organised corruption to a new level.

Furthermore, it would ensure effective coordination of our action with the relevant international organisations, above all the UN agencies.

We also need to begin implementing the list of measures for further developing the planned activities of the SCO itself, in accordance with the plans approved by the Council of Heads of State last December here in Bishkek.

The SCO Interbank Consortium (in which Vnesheconombank represents Russia) is today financing the projects of greatest importance for the member countries. Its work deserves a positive assessment.

In order to make financial support for joint projects even more effective, we proposed establishing the SCO Development Fund, and are working on other proposals too. In particular, we are looking at our Chinese friends’ proposal to set up the SCO Development Bank. The heads of government will need to continue discussion of these projects in order to reach the optimum solution in each case. 

”On May 9, 2015, we will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Russia has a big programme of celebrations planned for this event and will invite foreign delegations.“

Colleagues, the time is ripe to take a thorough look at how we can further develop and strengthen our organisation. In this respect, the instructions to our foreign policy agencies to draft a strategy for the organisation’s development through to 2025, which we set out in the Bishkek Declaration, are particularly important.

It is equally important to confirm our organisation’s openness in practice. We have agreed to work out membership and accession matters. I agree with those who think that we should proceed carefully and not act in haste, but work in this area can and should continue.

Another important matter is that on May 9, 2015, we will celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II. Russia has a big programme of celebrations planned for this event and will invite foreign delegations.

I propose that we look at what kind of anniversary celebrations we could hold within the SCO. We could approve them at the next SCO summit in Dushanbe.

In conclusion, I want to thank Mr Atambayev and all of our friends in Kyrgyzstan for giving us these excellent opportunities for meeting and working together.

Thank you for your attention.