The SCO Forum on People-to-People Friendship and the Forum on Friendship Cities open on June 15 in Qingdao. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Themed with "Carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit and Promoting Friendly Cooperation", the SCO Forum on People-to-People Friendship and the Forum on Friendship Cities kicked off in Qingdao city of Shandong province on June 15.

Co-hosted by the Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation Commission of the SCO (GNFCC SCO), the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Shandong provincial government, the event attracted more than 400 guests including leaders and diplomats from SCO member states, government officials and representatives from civil society organizations and the media.

Shen Yueyue, vice-chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairperson of GNFCC SCO, said the SCO has bolstered people-to-people friendship that is unique to the organization and fits the development needs of all countries.

A series of activities to boost SCO ties get underway in Qingdao. [Photo/Guanhai News]

"We should become practitioners of the 'Shanghai Spirit', inheritors of friendliness for generations and promoters of common development, tolerance and mutual learning," Shen said. "We need to expand international friendly city cooperation and contribute our wisdom and strength to the construction of a closer SCO community of shared destiny," she added.

During the opening ceremony, GNFCC SCO signed memorandums of cooperation with the Cultural and Integration Center of the SCO Countries and the Silk Road, the Eurasian People's Assembly, the Peace and Friendship Organization of Mongolia and the Nepal China Cultural and Education Council.

The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries signed memoranda of cooperation with the Committee on Interethnic Relations and Friendship Cooperation with Foreign Countries under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Uzbekistan and the SCO Friendship and Cooperation Center of Tajikistan.

Qingdao also signed friendship city agreements with Yerevan in Armenia, Ganja in Azerbaijan and Samarkand in Uzbekistan.

The event is designed to promote mutual learning between civilizations and people-to-people exchanges while boosting good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation among member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. [Photo/Guanhai News]