Shen Yueyue, Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, President of the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission of the SCO, and President of the All-China Women's Federation, delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Forum on People-to-People Friendship opened in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, on June 3, 2021. [Photo/womenofchina.cn]

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on People-to-People Friendship opened in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, on June 3, 2021. Shen Yueyue, Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, President of the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission (GNFCC) of the SCO, and President of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), attended the opening ceremony. She read a letter of congratulations from Chinese President Xi Jinping and delivered a speech.

Shen noted President Xi had specially sent a letter to the forum, which surely promoted the inheritance of the traditions of maintaining good-neighborliness and friendship among SCO countries and advancing people-to-people connectivity. Shen stressed during the 20 years since SCO's establishment, the organization's member countries have carried forward firmly the Shanghai Spirit and have set a new model for international relations. People from institutions for friendly people-to-people exchanges should always advocate unity and cooperation, strive for common development, enhance mutual learning of civilizations, deepen good-neighborliness friendship, strengthen people-to-people connectivity and make efforts to build a closer community with a shared future for SCO.

Approximately 500 Chinese and foreign participants, including State leaders of SCO countries, the SCO Secretary-General, diplomats in China and representatives from nongovernmental organizations, attended the forum. With the theme "Promoting People-to-People Friendship, Inheriting Shanghai Spirit," the forum included sessions on think tank, friendship cities-plus, sanitation and health care, rural development and poverty reduction, and high-quality communication. A comprehensive exhibition, "Home of SCO," and a people-to-people connectivity exchange week with the theme "China-SCO media cloud" were also held. The SCO Forum on People-to-People Friendship Wuhan Proposal was released during the forum. Cai Shumin, Vice-President and Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, attended the forum's opening ceremony.

Shen Yueyue, Vice-Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, President of the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission of the SCO, and President of the All-China Women's Federation, attends the opening ceremony of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Forum on People-to-People Friendship opened in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, on June 3, 2021. [Photo/womenofchina.cn]