"It used to be rather a local association whose agenda was mainly focused on Central Asia. Now the SCO is a giant transregional organization ... And the organization's agenda is no longer regional, it has many global aspects," Logvinov told a press conference.
At the same time, he explained the SCO had never been meant to become a mechanism of confrontation with anyone.
"The SCO is an organization of cooperation, not opposition to anyone," Logvinov said.
The organization has no attributes of a military bloc and was not designed as such, the official stated, adding that coordination between defense ministries and armed forces of the SCO member states had a "strong counterterrorism orientation," with all joint drills aimed at improving capacities to repel large-scale attacks by international terrorists.
Logvinov also said the organization took a distanced position towards the situation in Asia-Pacific, focusing on "ensuring stability, security, tranquility, cooperation and common development precisely in the SCO area."
The organization's main potential is that relations between its member states are built on "mutual respect, full equality, rejection of forceful pressure, refusal to divide [nations] into leading and driven," the SCO deputy secretary general told the press conference.
Therefore, the organization will always be able to find a consensus on challenges in various areas, "whether there are eight, nine or 10 member states," he noted.
"Any country that applies to join the SCO as a member state thereby accepts those principles, those moral, ethical and political foundations on which the SCO is built. And these are equality, mutual respect, the search for common points of view," Logvinov told the press conference.
At the same time, he noted that even in the format of six founding states, it was not easy to find an economic project that would equally meet the interests of all.
"So here we are thinking about more flexible forms of interaction," Logvinov said.
Among the priority areas for cooperation within the SCO, Logvinov mentioned trade, green economy, transportation, agriculture, energy, as well as the development of digital technologies and their implementation.
The SCO is an international organization founded by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan in 2001. In 2017, India and Pakistan were also admitted to the organization. The SCO also has Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia as observer states, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey are partner countries. In July 2022, Belarus submitted its application to join the SCO as a full-fledged member, which is officially expected to take place in 2024.