BEIJING, July 4. /TASS/. Firm principles and flexible mechanisms ensure the effectiveness of cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said SCO Secretary General Nurlan Yermekbayev.

"I believe that one of the strengths of the SCO lies precisely in this combination of firm principles and flexible mechanisms. The Shanghai Spirit serves as a value base for us, the principle of consensus guarantees equality, and flexible tools for practical cooperation allow us to translate common goals into concrete results," he said in an interview with the Global Times newspaper on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the organization.

As Yermekbayev clarified, the SCO states are able to ensure the practical fulfillment of the tasks assigned to the organization. On some issues, they can interact on the basis of voluntary participation or in a "stakeholder format," when everyone independently determines the degree of their involvement in the implementation of the project, and individual members of the association may not join it at will.

The secretary general noted that in an environment where international relations are becoming increasingly unstable, the SCO's experience is becoming particularly relevant. According to him, the organization demonstrates in practice that on the basis of an equal dialogue it is possible to provide the necessary space for joint development, building trusting and good-neighborly relations.

Yermekbayev expressed confidence that the SCO will continue to strengthen mutual understanding between its members and will contribute to the expansion of practical cooperation.

The SCO was established in 2001 by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In 2017, India and Pakistan received the status of a member state, in 2023 - Iran, in 2024 - Belarus. The organization has ten participating countries.