Nurlan Yermekbayev, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), has highly commented on the Global Governance Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlighting its profound significance and strong alignment with the core values of the Shanghai Spirit.
Yermekbayev made the remarks in a recent interview with China Media Group in Beijing ahead of the 2026 SCO Summit in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek.
"I believe that the Global Governance Initiative proposed by his excellency President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China is highly significant, immensely far-reaching and exceptionally timely. For us, it is both noteworthy and important that the initiative was first proposed at the 'SCO Plus' Meeting during the SCO Tianjin Summit (in 2025). The principles, values and goals of the Global Governance Initiative closely align in many respects with those of the SCO and the Shanghai Spirit," said Yermekbayev.
The Shanghai Spirit features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development.
Guided by the spirit, the SCO has expanded from six founding members to a 27-nation family, making it a comprehensive regional organization with the widest geographical coverage, largest population and enormous development potential.
"The Global Governance Initiative emphasizes equality and puts people in the first place. In my view, a people-centered approach lies at its heart: People, together with their interests, lives and health, are placed front and center. The SCO follows the same approach. It consistently upholds equality, dialogue, consultation, mutual respect and respect for the diversity of civilizations, while pursuing the goal of common development. That is why the SCO member states have expressed their support for this initiative. We are now advancing the SCO's development under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, which, as I have said, is closely aligned with the initiative," said Yermekbayev.
Global Governance Initiative resonates deeply with Shanghai Spirit: secretary-general
The threat of the barrier lake formed after Wednesday's catastrophic mudslide at the Gyirong Port, a major China-Nepal land border crossing in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, continues to subside, with the lake's size steadily shrinking, according to an on-site monitoring team.
In the wake of the disaster, which has claimed at least seven lives and left more than 550 others missing in Gyirong, China Anneng -- a state-owned engineering and rescue enterprise -- has deployed teams to the disaster zone to support the search and rescue operations.
One of the teams tasked with monitoring the barrier lake, which sits over 10 kilometers upstream from the port, said real-time surveillance footage showed the lake was continuing to drain out.
"Our task today is to find a stable monitoring point on the opposite bank and install our detection equipment there to monitor the displacement of the landslide body and guard against the risks of a secondary collapse," said Chen Hanxiao, a member of the monitoring team from the Lhasa base of China Anneng.
The 15-member monitoring team have brought with it drones, satellite stations, and communication gear.
"A comparison of today's imagery with yesterday's shows that the water level here has dropped by about one-third. The receding water poses no further threat to the dam's structural integrity, buying valuable time for the rescue crews to carry out critical hazard mitigation work," said Hu Bo, head of the monitoring team.
However, Hu cautioned that despite the encouraging signs, the situation remains unpredictable given the region's complex glacial environment and changeable weather conditions. He stressed that real-time surveillance and data analysis are vital to assessing the barrier lake's stability and supporting follow-up operations.
The mudslide was triggered by a high-altitude glacier collapse on the Nepalese side, where the disaster had killed more than 620 people and left over 2,400 others missing, as of Saturday morning, according to the country's national disaster risk reduction and management authority.
Threat of barrier lake waning after massive mudslide near China-Nepal border
