Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a central urban work conference for the first time in 10 years and held a group meeting with foreign ministers, according to Chinese state media.
According to reports from the state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 15th, Xi convened seven members of the Political Bureau Standing Committee for a two-day central urban work conference in Beijing on the 14th and 15th. In his speech at the conference, Xi highlighted China's urban development achievements and conveyed important principles and key tasks to effectively carry out urban work.
The reports evaluated that China's urbanization has completed its high-speed growth and entered a stable development phase, indicating that urban development is transitioning from scale expansion to quality improvement and efficiency enhancement. In particular, it was noted that the determination to advance the urban slum redevelopment plan was reaffirmed.
Xi also met with foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states and officials from the permanent organization at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The SCO is a security consultation body led by China and Russia, established to counter Western security alliances.
During this meeting, Xi stated, “The political mutual trust among SCO member states is deepening, and cooperation in various fields is yielding results, aligning with the trends of the times and the demands of each country, thereby creating a model for new international relations.” He added, “We must establish mutual trust and reciprocity as the foundation for cooperation and equality and negotiations as the path for collaboration.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, representing the foreign ministers from the attending countries, said, “In the face of a complex international situation, we must uphold multilateralism and further develop the international order in a more just and rational direction.”