Preparations for 2025 SCO summit in full swing: Foreign Ministry official

China

Preparations for 2025 SCO summit in full swing: Foreign Ministry official

2025-03-22 17:37 Last Updated At：23:47

China is comprehensively advancing all preparatory work for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit to be held in the northern Tianjin Municipality this autumn, said Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Bin.

Assuming the rotating presidency of the SCO for 2024-2025,, China has been putting together more than 100 events in political, security, economic, and people-to-people fields under the theme of "Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move."

Considered the most significant annual event of the SCO, the summit serves as a platform for leaders of member states to consult and make decisions on major issues concerning the organization's development and cooperation.

"China, for the time being, is comprehensively advancing all preparatory work, working closely with all parties to draft cooperation plans in political, security, economic, and cultural fields, as well as formulating the SCO's development strategy for the next decade. Efforts are being made to push for the organizational operations, enhance the decision-making efficiency, and discuss significant matters such as the organization's future expansion. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Therefore, the summit will present a unified voice on major international and regional issues and adopt relevant important documents," Liu said in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing.

Following Shanghai, Beijing and Qingdao, Tianjin will become the fourth Chinese city to host the SCO summit. "Tianjin is a base for advanced manufacturing research and development in China, a northern hub for international shipping, a demonstration zone for financial innovation and operations, a pilot zone for reform and opening up, and a core city in the Bohai Economic Rim. It boasts over 600 years of history as well as an open, diverse and inclusive culture. Holding the SCO summit in Tianjin will surely bring cooperation opportunities of Chinese modernization to the SCO, while showcasing the latest achievements and vitality of China's economic and social development. We believe that the Tianjin summit will present world-class standards and unique value, creating a gathering characterized by friendship, unity, vibrant highlights, and fruitful outcomes," said Liu.

In recent years, the SCO has incorporated new members who recognize the Shanghai Spirit, which is defined by mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development.

Now, with nine member states, three observer states and 14 dialogue partners, the SCO is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographical scale and population.

China’s traditional building materials industry speeds up green transition in Q1

China's traditional building materials industry accelerated its structural optimization amid headwinds in the first quarter of this year, with green development emerging as a core growth engine.

As the traditional building materials industry steps up its green transformation, a cumulative total of 29.8 million tons of low-efficiency production capacity has been phased out, reversing the decline of capacity utilization, industry data showed.

The industry of advanced inorganic non-metallic materials, represented by photovoltaic glass, glass fiber and its products, experienced rapid growth. Demand for photovoltaic glass accounted for nearly 50 percent of total flat glass demand, and the total profit of the industry of glass fiber and its products surged by 130 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, green building materials recorded growth in both volume and profitability. By the end of the first quarter, China's certified green building materials increased by 5 percent compared with the end of 2025, and the industry's total profits grew 16.2 percent year on year.

"Ten government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, have jointly issued an implementation plan for high-quality development of the green building materials industry, guiding the green transition of the sector. In the first quarter of the year, the total revenue of the green building materials industry exceeded 61.1 billion yuan (about 8.99 billion U.S. dollars), maintaining a rapid growth of 12 percent and laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual revenue target of 300 billion yuan," said Yan Xiaofeng, president of the China Building Materials Federation.