On 13 October 2017, the 2017 international scientific and practical conference on trade and economic cooperation in the SCO Region titled "The SCO — Promising Platform for Broad Mutually Beneficial Cooperation and Integration in Eurasia" was held in Moscow.
Representatives of the economic and scientific expert community and businesses from the SCO member countries, observer states and dialogue partners, as well as diplomats accredited in Moscow and members of the media took part in the conference. The delegation of the SCO Secretariat was chaired by Deputy Secretary-General Aziz Nosirov.
Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Gruzdev delivered an address at the opening ceremony in which he stressed the importance of developing trade and economic cooperation in the SCO in the new G8 format. He spoke highly of its potential, noting the key role of the SCO in uniting national strategies and integration initiatives adopted by its member states. He outlined several promising areas of cooperation, such as electronic trade, information and communication technologies, innovations, digital technologies, and research and development.
In his welcoming remarks sent to the participants of the conference, SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov noted that "the Astana Declaration of the SCO Heads of State emphasises the importance of establishing an open global economy and consolidating the multilateral trade system. It also emphasises the need to build a system of regional trade and economic cooperation to facilitate the development of trade and investment activities, upgrade infrastructure and improve living standards. In this context, creative proposals and initiatives aimed at creating favourable conditions for regional economic cooperation and helping to search for new models of international cooperation are especially important."
The conference hosted discussions at various sessions, such as "Development Prospects of the SCO in the Modern Global and Regional Context" and "Strategic Vision of the SCO's Development and Participants' Proposals on the Prospective Agenda on Cooperation in the Trade, Economic, Investment, Infrastructure, Technological, Innovative, Regulatory, Political and Humanitarian Sectors."
The international scientific and practical conference on trade and economic cooperation in the SCO Region was organised by the Russian Foreign Trade Academy at the Ministry of Economic Development. The All-Union Foreign Trade Academy was founded in 1931 and is now one of the leading education institutions in Russia, training specialists in International Economic Relations and Finance, Foreign Trade Management and International Law.
On 20 October 2016, Beijing hosted the first conference on trade and economic cooperation in the SCO Region organised by the SCO Secretariat and the Chinese International Trade and Economic Cooperation Academy.