The Center for People's Diplomacy of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which became the first such structure, began operating in Tashkent, the UzTAG reports.

In connection with the launch of the center, a briefing was held, where the first deputy chairman of the Senate of Oliy Majlis Sadik Safaev, director of the Center for Public Diplomacy of the SCO Rahmatulla Nazarov, chairman of the Committee on Interethnic Relations and Friendly Relations with Foreign Countries under the Cabinet of Ministers Rustam Kurbanov told about the center's activities. The address of the SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov to the participants of the event was also heard.

The center’s founders are the Committee on Interethnic Relations and Friendly Relations with Foreign Countries under the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Culture, Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, Physical Culture and Sports, the State Committee for Tourism Development, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Arts, the Youth Union, the Creative Union of Journalists and the Union of Writers.

According to the organizers, in its activities the center will pay attention to expanding cultural and humanitarian ties with the SCO member states, mutual visits of delegations, and creating the necessary conditions for the development of friendly ties between civil society institutions, including youth and women's organizations.

“The Qazaq Times”