On September 5, 2023, the 10th Meeting of the Ministers of Justice of the SCO member states was held in Shanghai under the chairmanship of the Chinese side. It was attended by the heads of justice departments of all member states and SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming. For Iran, which has recently joined the Organization, participation in the Meeting was a debut.
Chinese Justice Minister He Rong opened the meeting. Member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee Chen Wenqing read out the welcome message of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the participants of the Meeting. The head of the Shanghai CPC City Committee, Chen Jining, also spoke at the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Zhang Ming expressed sincere gratitude to the President of the People’s Republic of China for his welcoming message and noted that multilateral cooperation in the field of jurisprudence and judicial proceedings is an integral part of the SCO agenda, an important guarantee of deepening bilateral and multilateral relations between various states, effective interaction between them. At present, despite the new threats and challenges facing the region and the international community, the SCO continues to develop, which fully reflects the viability of the principles of the “Shanghai spirit” and the enormous potential of the Organization. It is necessary to take advantage of a historic chance to promote cooperation in the field of jurisprudence and judicial proceedings, achieving new substantive results and contributing to bringing cooperation within the SCO to a new level.
During the meeting, an exchange of views took place on such issues as legal construction, legal services, forensic examination, access to legal information, etc. Following the meeting, a joint statement was signed.
The 11th Meeting of the Ministers of Justice of the SCO member states will be held in Kazakhstan in 2024.
