Excellency,

Mr. Sooronbay Jeenbekov,

President of the Kyrgyz Republic,

Honourable Heads of Member and Observer States,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am delighted to join leaders from SCO Member and Observer States in this beautiful city of Bishkek.

I extend our gratitude to President Jeenbekov, the Government and people of Kyrgyz Republic for their gracious hospitality.

The Kyrgyz Republic’s natural beauty and rich traditions make it the pearl of the SCO region.

We congratulate Kyrgyzstan for its excellent stewardship of SCO since the historic Qingdao Summit in China last year.

As the Russian Federation takes the baton, we are confident that SCO’s onward march would continue apace.

Excellencies,

Pakistan has historic ties with the nations and countries represented around this table.

We may be new to the SCO family, but our links are deep and abiding.

SCO is the modern expression of our historic roots.

Our economic linkages are equally compelling.

Pakistan provides the vital connectivity between the Middle East and China and Central and South Asia.

These geographic proximities and economic imperatives draw us closer to SCO.

Excellencies,

Pakistan today is a country of over 200 million resilient and enterprising people.

Pakistan is an attractive investment destination and a large market endowed with a rich array of resources.

Our predominantly young population is imbued with immense energy and creativity.

Our other endowments include a vast pool of skilled human resource, a large agrarian base, tremendous tourism potential, diverse mineral wealth, and a developed IT infrastructure.

Pakistan’s foreign policy outlook is anchored on the inextricable link between peace and development.

We build partnerships based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and equal benefit.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of President Xi’s far-sighted Belt and Road Initiative, is fast reaching fruition.

Gwadar Port, at its southern end, marks the only point of convergence of the maritime Belt and the overland Road.

I was in China in April, for the 2^nd Belt and Road Forum, where we also launched the next phase of CPEC, and concluded an upgraded Pakistan-China Free Trade Agreement.

In time, CPEC is destined to catalyze the creation of an integrated pan-Asian sphere of shared prosperity.

Excellencies,

The world stands at a cross-roads.

For the first time in ages,we are seeing the advent of a multi-polar global order.

Epicentres of economic power and growth momentum are shifting eastwards.

Regional integration is speeding up.

Disruptive technologies are maturing.

Threats from terrorism to climate change to narcotics to bacterial resistance continue to loom large.

There are increasing barriers to open trade and innovation.

Meanwhile, growing intolerance and Islamophobia are threatening to accentuate religious fault-lines.

For its part, Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including State-terrorism against people under illegal occupation.

We are among the few countries to have successfully turned the tide against terrorism.