Countries in the SCO are considering the possibility of liberalizing the visa regime, according to Ermekbayev.

“Collaboration in the tourism sector is a crucial aspect of our work. All activities are carried out under the agreement between the governments of the SCO member states aimed at enhancing cooperation in tourism,” said Ermekbayev.

He mentioned that heads of tourism administrations meet annually, with their previous ministerial meeting taking place in Almaty in May 2024.

“During this meeting, a plan for joint actions in tourism for 2024-2025 was adopted, and one of the points in this plan is for the SCO member states to explore the possibility of liberalizing the visa regime.
This means that we are not currently discussing the introduction of a visa-free regime for all SCO member states, but rather its liberalization, as visa-free arrangements are mainly established on a bilateral basis,” said the Secretary-General.

He noted that several SCO member states already have agreements in place, have recently come into effect, or are planned regarding visa-free travel.

These agreements include visa-free travel between, for example, China and Kazakhstan. A recent agreement between Kazakhstan and the Special Administrative Region of Macau has come into effect, and visa-free regimes have been established between China and Uzbekistan, as well as between China and Belarus.

Nurlan Ermekbayev assumed the position of Secretary-General of the SCO on January 1, 2025.

The SCO is an international organization founded in 2001. It consists of 10 member states: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.

There are two observer countries: Afghanistan and Mongolia.

There are 14 partner countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.

The official languages of the SCO are Russian and Chinese.