Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, in his address at the SCO Council of Heads of State, outlined his vision for the organization’s future priorities. He emphasized strengthening strategic partnership, trust, and mutual support as the first priority. Against the backdrop of growing geopolitical conflicts, economic sanctions, technological rivalry, and ecological crises, Tokayev stressed that the SCO should become a permanent platform for political dialogue, confidence-building, humanitarian cooperation, and intercivilizational engagement.
He highlighted the importance of security cooperation, pointing to increasing threats such as terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, illegal migration, and cybercrime. Kazakhstan supports the creation of four SCO centers to address these security challenges. Tokayev also underlined the need for continued humanitarian and technical aid to Afghanistan and for its integration into regional economic processes. He noted that Kazakhstan has already begun infrastructure and logistics projects in Afghanistan. Furthermore, he recalled the recent opening in Almaty of the UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan, suggesting that SCO member states should jointly leverage this institution’s potential to enhance regional cooperation.
