TASHKENT, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Tashkent-based Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Public Diplomacy Center will continue to boost the spirit of mutual trust and good neighborliness in the SCO space, the center's Director Kabuljon Sabirov said Saturday.
People-to-people diplomacy has been acquiring key importance with its inherent openness and impartiality, and unlike in traditional diplomacy and official state channels, it can involve scientists, artists, businessmen, religious leaders, youth, tourism and sports organizations without political and legal restrictions, Sabirov told Xinhua in an interview.
"People-to-people diplomacy is a simple communication between ordinary people and organizations from different countries, which seek to deepen relations for a better understanding of culture and traditions, as well as develop mutually beneficial cooperation," Sabirov said.
Uzbekistan's first step in this direction was to open the SCO's Public Diplomacy Center which was initiated by Uzbek president n 2017 during the SCO summit in Nur-sultan, he noted.
"Uzbekistan's president has repeatedly stressed that strengthening trust between peoples, deepening mutual understanding between states, mutual consideration of interests, and complete equality is the main guarantee of the success of SCO," Sabirov said.
The easiest way to achieve these goals is people-to-people diplomacy, he added.
Sabirov emphasized that over the past period the center has accumulated a lot of experience in implementing joint projects and cultural events to share knowledge of historical and cultural heritage and centuries-old traditions of the peoples of the SCO countries.
The center's current priority is to develop bilateral and multilateral relations with public organizations of other SCO member states, including China's SCO Committee on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, with which the center signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in April 2019, according to the director. Enditem
