LiuJinsong,China鈥檚ambassadortoAfghanistan,notedthatasanobserverstate,Afghanistan鈥檚peaceandstabilityaresignificanttotheSCOanditsmemberstates.HeinsistedthatSCOmemberstatesplacetremendousattentiononproblemsinAfghanistan,withChinaplayinganimportantrole.NotonlyhastheSCOopenedmorechannelsofdiplomacyfortheCentralAsianstate,butithasalsoofferedanappropriateplatformforcomprehensivecooperationbetweenAfghanistananditsneighbors,includingChina.Chinasupportsthecountry鈥檚participationinactivitiesundertheframeworkoftheSCO.
XueYaping,directorofthemarketingandinternationalcooperationdepartmentunderChina鈥檚MinistryofCultureandTourism,saidatapressconferencethathugepotentialexistsfortourismcooperationamongSCOmemberstates.鈥淭ourismcooperationisalreadyanimportantpartofeconomiccooperationamongSCOmemberstates,andithasprovenconducivetoconsolidatinganddevelopinggoodneighborrelationsamongthem,鈥漍uedeclared.In2017,touristsfromotherSCOmemberstatesmade3.62milliontripstoChina,upby11.75percentyearonyear.
ProfessorB.R.DeepakfromtheCenterofChinese&SoutheastAsianStudiesofJawaharlalNehruUniversityremarkedthatduringthedevelopmentoftheSCO,ithasupheldthe鈥淪hanghaiSpirit鈥漚nderectedamodelfornewinternationalrelationscharacterizedbymutualrespect,justice,equityandwin-wincooperation.The鈥淪hanghaiSpirit鈥漰romotesconstructionofanopenandinclusiveAsiaandisconducivetoregionalpeaceanddevelopment,economicintegrationandmutualtrustamongcountries.Asforfuturecooperation,Indiahaswide-ranginghopes.InProfessorDeepak鈥檚opinion,theSCOhasprovidedIndiawithmoreopportunitiestodevelopandaplatformforcooperation鈥攄eepeningexistingexchangeandfacilitatingcooperationwithCentralAsiancountries.TheSCOstrivestofightterrorism.Intelligencesharingandanti-terrorismdrillsareconducivetopeaceandstabilityintheregion.
India鈥檚firsttriptoanSCOsummitasafullmemberpresentedagreattimeforIndiatolookforopportunitiestoworkjointlywithcountriesintheregiononeconomicdevelopment,regionalconnectivityandsecurity,remarkedSutirthoPatranobisfromHindustanTimes.It鈥檚anewplatformforIndiaandChinatointeractwitheachother.Theirrelationshipexperiencedroughwaterslastyearbecauseofthemilitarystandoff,butsincethenbothcountrieshavebeenworkingtoimproveties.InApril,ChinesePresidentXiJinpingandIndianPrimeMinisterNarendraModimetinWuhanforaninformalsummit.Consensusemergedfromthatsummit,andtheSCOplatformwillgivethesetwoaswellasotherleadersmoreopportunitiestoachieveprogressontheiragreements.