On May 19, 2022, the Nineteenth Meeting of Ministers of Culture of the Shanghai Organization member states was held in Tashkent under the chairmanship of the Uzbek side, the organization’s Secretariat reports. It was attended by: State Minister of Culture of the Republic of India Arjun Ram Megwal, Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Abayev Dauren Askerbekovich, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China Zhao Quan, Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic Zhamankulov Azamat Kaparovich, Secretary of the Ministry of National Heritage and Culture of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Zafar Hassan, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Borisovna Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tajikistan Davlatzoda Zulfiya Davlat, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan Nazarbekov Ozodbek Akhmadovich and SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming.

In an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding, the parties discussed the development of cooperation in the field of culture and art over the past period, exchanged views on the implementation of agreements reached within the framework of the past meetings of Ministers of Culture of the member States of the Organization.

The parties confirmed their interest in developing joint projects in the field of cinema, theater, library and museum business in order to strengthen mutual understanding between peoples, preserve the diversity of cultures and disseminate knowledge about the culture, customs and traditions of the peoples of the SCO member states.

The sides confirmed the importance of implementing joint cultural events and stressed the need to further improve cooperation mechanisms with observer states and SCO dialogue partners in the field of culture and art both on a bilateral and multilateral basis.

An agreement was reached to hold the Twentieth Meeting of the Ministers of Culture of the SCO member states in 2023 in the Republic of India.

The Ministers are convinced that the further development of the entire complex of cooperation in the field of culture will contribute to strengthening the bonds of friendship, good-neighborliness and further building up mutually beneficial cooperation between the SCO member states.