An energy cooperation platform between China and the SCO is launched in Beijing on September 2, 2025. Photo: CCTV News

Three major platforms for China-Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) cooperation in energy, green industry, and the digital economy were launched on Tuesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV News. An expert said the swift move not only marks China's earnest implementation of the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), but will boost the modernization of SCO countries and give play to the demonstration role of the SCO in global governance.

An energy cooperation platform between China and the SCO was launched in Beijing on Tuesday, while a green industry cooperation platform and a digital economy cooperation platform were launched in North China's Tianjin on the same day, CCTV News reported.

At the "SCO Plus" meeting held in Tianjin on Monday, the Chinese side announced that it will establish three major platforms for China-SCO cooperation in energy, green industry, and the digital economy, and will set up three major cooperation centers for scientific and technological innovation, higher education, and vocational and technical education, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

"The swift move to establish the three major cooperation platforms between China and the SCO reflects China's commitment to the organization and its earnest implementation of the Global Governance Initiative," Rong Ying, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Rong said that advancing cooperation in the oil and gas, green energy, and digital economy sectors will facilitate industrial transformation across SCO member countries and strengthen industrial and supply chain linkages within the SCO, which will inject new momentum into regional economic cooperation and sustainable development.

In recent years, pragmatic energy cooperation between China and SCO countries made comprehensive progress, according to data released by China's National Energy Administration on Monday. Since taking over the rotating presidency of the SCO in July last year, China has carried out 163 power and renewable energy projects with SCO countries, with total signed investment of more than 330 billion yuan ($46.2 billion), the data showed.

At the launch ceremony of the digital platform, officials emphasized the need to enhance supply-demand matchmaking and deepen ecosystem cooperation by factoring in the resource endowments, industrial strengths, and cooperation needs of SCO countries in order to attract broader participation in the development of the platform, according to CCTV News.

They called for advancing the "hard connectivity" of digital infrastructure, "soft connectivity" of digital rules and standards, and "heart connectivity" in cultivating digital talent among partner countries, and a batch of flagship and "small and beautiful" livelihood projects will be planned and implemented, it said.

On Tuesday, the China-SCO Higher Education Cooperation Center was launched at Xi'an Jiaotong University, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, while the China-SCO Vocational and Technical Education Cooperation Center was launched in Tianjin, according to CCTV News.

Meanwhile, the China-SCO cooperation center for scientific and technological innovation has been approved for establishment in East China's Shandong Province, with the aim of strengthening collaboration with SCO member states in science and technology, advancing two-way technology transfer and commercialization, and promoting industrial synergy, according to the provincial science and technology authorities on Monday.

"Strengthening educational cooperation serves as a critical pathway to enhancing the human capital quality of developing countries. It will not only nurture skilled workers for the industrial transformation of SCO member countries and other developing nations but also help cultivate tech talent," Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The SCO is an important regional organization with major emerging markets and developing countries among its members, and enhancing cooperation in these fields holds profound significance for fostering sustainable development for these markets and countries, boosting confidence in their growth trajectories, and injecting vital momentum into their economic and social progress, Song said.

China's moves under the SCO cooperation framework will give play to the demonstration role of the SCO in boosting global governance reform, Rong said, noting that SCO economic and trade cooperation is expected to show new developments, breakthroughs and vitality, ensuring sustained contributions of "SCO strength" to global economic stability and prosperity.