Xi called for joint efforts to fight the three evil forces — terrorism, separatism and extremism — as well as beefing up security measures and halting the flow of terrorists and extremist forces.

Noting that Afghanistan is a neighbor of SCO countries and an important observer state in the organization, Xi said the SCO firmly supports an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process.

SCO countries should cultivate new cooperation areas in such fields as digital economy, ecommerce, artificial intelligence and big data, he said.