SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov attended the panel meeting, "Building an informed society and consolidating a new development driver," that took place on 2 June during the SCO People's Diplomacy Forum. The event was organised by the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, with support from Wuhan University. Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Wang Linggui opened the themed session by noting that in the past 20 years, the SCO has become a universal regional organisation for cooperation covering the largest territory and population in the world.
Experts and analysts from numerous research centres and universities based in the SCO member states took part in the panel session. They discussed a wide range of issues that concern building an informed society, and also talked about the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and practical cooperation to facilitate deeper integration.
With regard to forming an informed society, Cui Li, Vice Chairperson of China's SCO Committee on Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, noted that the SCO must adhere to the principle of transparency and inclusivity to achieve new success in education, and must create new non-governmental institutions for an in-depth study of the SCO structure.
Vice Governor of Hubei province Xiao Juhua said extensive cultural exchanges should give a new impetus to mutually beneficial cooperation between the SCO member states.
During the second themed session, Vladimir Norov emphasised that the world's current fourth industrial revolution is offering tremendous new opportunities in terms of serious quality of life improvement but is also creating massive challenges affecting all aspects of life, from aggravating global imbalances to the demand for a complete revision of the secondary and higher education model. The SCO takes an active stand on the entire spectrum of the existing problems. The SCO's agenda in this area will always be subject to expansion as dictated by the times.
Regarding current threats, Vladimir Norov noted that there is a tangible threat of hackers taking over people's lives in their entirety. Even today, the internet is used as a propaganda channel for terrorism, extremism and separatism; it is becoming an instrument of direct interference with the domestic affairs of sovereign states. The general view of the situation is set forth in the SCO Development Strategy until 2025.
"The SCO acts as a driving force in international efforts to develop rules, regulations and principles for responsible conduct in the information space to ensure information security," the Secretary-General said.
