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From July 28 to September 23, activities themed “2023 SCO Summer” are being held in Qingdao, China. During this period, dozens of performing arts groups and media organisations from more than a dozen countries will gather in Qingdao to have nearly 50 special activities such as media think tank forums, cultural and art performances, special commodity promotions, and sports and leisure events.
On July 28, the China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade held an opening ceremony. Representatives of some universities, including Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University and Lomonosov Moscow State University, attended the ceremony.
Logvinov Grigory, Deputy Secretary-General of SCO, Zhang Xinzhu, Member of Standing Committee of Qingdao Municipal Party Committee and Director of Shanghai Cooperation Demonstration Zone Management Committee, Li Gang, Executive Deputy Director, Wan Ting, Deputy Director of Network Center of International Cultural Exchange, ZurabPololikashvili, Secretary-General of UNWTO (online speech), and Joan Gaspart Solves, Special Representative of the World Tourism Organization, attended the event.
Logvinov Grigory said in his speech that the SCO is an international organisation full of vitality and diverse civilisations and that cultural exchanges and cooperation among the members of SCO are increasingly getting closer.
Taking this event as an opportunity, the members of SCO will further strengthen cooperation and deepen their understanding of tourism interaction, cultural heritage protection and other aspects to promote cultural and cultural exchanges of the “SCO family” to a new level. Zhang Xinzhu, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Demonstration Zone, invited all countries to invite friends from the members of SCO to Qingdao to discuss friendship and seek joint development.
As a founding member of the SCO, China is also the world’s second-largest economy and the largest trading partner of Arab countries. Last year, China’s trade volume with Arab countries exceeded $430 billion. The China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) local economic and trade Cooperation Demonstration Zone is situated in Qingdao, Shandong province, which has operated 31 international train routes regularly, connecting 54 cities in 23 countries along the SCO and the Belt and Road and increasing the trade volume with SCO countries from AED 425 million in 2019 to AED 4.05 billion in 2022.
On May 6, 2023, the United Arab Emirates announced its official status as a dialogue partner of the SCO. His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said “As an engaged member of the international community with an unwavering commitment to multilateralism, the UAE recognises the critical importance of organisations such as the SCO in building bridges of cooperation between member states towards common objectives.”
Taking advantage of the open platform of the SCO Demonstration Zone located in Qingdao, Shandong, more Arab countries have cooperated with Chinese enterprises. It is precisely because of the vast Chinese market that many Arab countries have welcomed the SCO. The participation of Arab countries in the organisation is of great significance to maintaining regional stability and promoting economic development.