Cultural cooperation also occurs in the SCO framework. Culture ministers of the SCO met for the first time in Beijing on April 12, 2002, signing a joint statement for continued cooperation. The third meeting of the Culture Ministers took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on April 27-28, 2006.

An SCO Arts Festival and Exhibition was held for the first time during the Astana Summit in 2005. Kazakhstan has also suggested an SCO folk dance festival to take place in 2008, in Astana.

Altough more technicaly and economicaly oreinted, the SCO University is one of the key achievements of cooperation between the countries of the Shanghai organization.