About 100 delegates and experts from member and observer states and dialogue partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization discussed issues concerning the SCO's development in a new era at a forum on Monday.

The forum, hosted in Beijing by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, included discussions on topics such as economic growth, regional stability, multilateral cooperation and a community of shared future.

Those who addressed the forum included Li Peilin, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Rashid Alimov, secretary-general of the SCO.

The forum, a chance for participants to hear ideas from think tanks for the SCO's development, came before the organization's annual summit, which will be in Qingdao, Shandong province, in June. The summit will be the first of its kind after the SCO admitted new members. The summit's goal is to make the SCO a more cohesive, effective and influential organization, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a news conference on the sidelines of the First Session of the National People's Congress this month, adding that the summit will usher in a new era for the organization.

The SCO was founded in 2001 in Shanghai. Its six founding members are Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In 2017, the organization expanded by adding India and Pakistan. There also are four observer states and six dialogue partners.

Zhao Huirong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said she hoped Monday's forum will address challenges and produce advice that will help the Qingdao summit bear pragmatic fruit.

The expanded membership requires efforts to strengthen solidarity and coordination among members, said Zhao, a researcher at the academy's Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies.

Zhao said the Shanghai Spirit of advocating mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultations, respect for diversity and pursuit of common development, has given the SCO "lasting vitality".

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