SCO ministers of justice issue joint statement

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States was held in Shanghai on Sept 5.

Chen Wenqing, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, attended the opening ceremony and read out President Xi Jinping's congratulatory message to the meeting before delivering a speech.

Chen Jining, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States is held in Shanghai on Sept 5. He Rong, minister of justice of China, chaired the meeting and delivered a keynote speech. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]   

He Rong, minister of justice of China, chaired the meeting and delivered a keynote speech.

The attendees held an in-depth exchange of views on the achievements the mechanism of the Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States has made in the past decade, as well as challenges facing the mechanism, achieving a series of outcomes in strengthening pragmatic cooperation in law-based governance.

The SCO ministers of justice unanimously recognized the importance of legal and judicial cooperation within the SCO, reaching a consensus on strengthening interactions among the legal and judicial departments of member states, deepening cooperation in legal services and continuing regular dialogues, as well as effectively implementing relevant agreements.

A joint statement of the 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States was signed, which emphasized the importance of cooperation in legal and judicial fields.

Activities such as meetings, legal cooperation forums and seminars will be held to better exchange experience in an effective manner, the statement said.

The statement also stressed the need to continue conducting expert workshops on judicial forensics and legal services to deepen cooperation in legal services and to promote exchanges of information on relevant laws and regulations, legal service institutions and legal service experts. All these initiatives aimed to facilitate the development of the rule of law of the member states based on their own situations.

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States is held in Shanghai on Sept 5. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

He Rong noted in her keynote speech that China's Ministry of Justice (MOJ) will thoroughly implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and the guiding principles of Xi's congratulatory letter to the meeting.

Based on the MOJ's judicial functions of administrative legislation, law-based administration, penalty execution, public legal services and the rule of law in foreign-related fields, the MOJ will work together with ministries of justice of other SCO member states to uphold the Shanghai Spirit and further deepen exchanges and cooperation, so as to provide strong legal guarantees for economic prosperity, as well as social safety and stability of SCO member states, He Rong said.

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States is held in Shanghai on Sept 5. [Photo/moj.gov.cn] 

On the sidelines of the meeting, He Rong also held bilateral meetings with Iranian Minister of Justice Amir Hossein Rahimi and Deputy Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abbasi, Kazak Minister of Justice Yeskarayev Azamat, Kyrgyz Minister of Justice Baetov Ayaz Batyrkulovich, Pakistani Attorney-General Mansoor Usman Awan, Russian Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko, Tajik Minister of Justice Muzaffar Ashouriyon, and Uzbek Minister of Justice Akbar Djurabayevich Tashkulov. He Rong also signed framework documents of bilateral cooperation from 2024 to 2025 with her counterparts in Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States is held in Shanghai on Sept 5. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States is held in Shanghai on Sept 5. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]

SCO ministers of justice and officials from the embassies and consulates of some SCO member states in China participated in the meeting on-site. Notably, both the minister and deputy minister of justice of Iran, as a member of the mechanism for the first time, attended the meeting. Indian Minister of Law and Justice Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal delivered a speech via video link.

Wang Yixing, deputy secretary-general of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, Wang Zhenjiang, vice-minister of justice of China, Wu Qing, deputy secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Li Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and secretary-general of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, also attended the opening ceremony.

More than 370 representatives of members of the China-SCO Legal Services Committee, China’s local judicial administrative departments, lawyer associations, notary associations and relevant legal service institutions, as well as foreign law firms in China, participated in the Meeting of the SCO Ministers of Justice and the international forum on legal services.

The Meeting of the SCO Ministers of Justice is a multilateral cooperation mechanism under the SCO framework. The 10th meeting was hosted by China's MOJ.

The 10th Meeting of Ministers of Justice of SCO Member States is held in Shanghai on Sept 5. [Photo/moj.gov.cn]