SCO General-Secretary Vladimir Norov addressed the Belt and Road Shanghai forum on promotion of trade in services

On 7 November 2019, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov took part in the Belt and Road Shanghai forum on the promotion of trade in services held as part of the second China International Import Expo.

The event was also attended by the Shanghai leaders and government officials, representatives of the Ministry of Commerce, as well as members of the public and business community from China, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries.

The invitees presented their reports on the latest development trends in trade in services as well as the prospects for further promotion of this area and the development of international trade and economic cooperation in general.

In his address, the SCO Secretary-General noted that holding this forum in Shanghai was emblematic for the SCO, because it was where the organisation was established back in 2001.

Mr Norov mentioned that at the opening ceremony of the 2019 China International Import Expo, President of China Xi Jinping had noted that China intended to promote its imports and exports as well as trade in goods and services, bilateral trade and mutual investment, and also the joint implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Referring to the opinion of many economists, Mr Norov said that as the initiator of the Belt and Road Initiative, China was actively expanding the scale of imports, constantly decreasing its trade surplus with the countries participating in the initiative and maintaining rapid growth in trade in services, becoming an important export market for goods from many countries. He pointed out that this global initiative created new opportunities to develop cooperation between the SCO countries in expanding services in trade and logistics and helped to restore the Great Silk Road that connected these countries for millennia.

The SCO Secretary-General noted that to date the shortest transport routes from China to Europe and the Middle East and back passed through Russia and Central Asia. He added that more cargo was being shipped by railway from China to Kazakhstan, Russia and further to Europe, Central Asian and the Persian Gulf countries. The railway traffic at the two railway checkpoints on the border between Kazakhstan and China accounted for almost 14 million tonnes and grew 38 percent last year.

"China, as a global economic centre, has enormous experience in developing transport networks and creating multi-modal logistic facilities. To date, China has the third largest market in transport and logistic services after the US and the EU: 18.7 percent of the global market. According to the Chinese Government's plan, a network of 212 new logistics centres will be created by 2035, with 30 new terminals created

by 2020 and another 150 by 2025," Vladimir Norov said.

He called attention to the fact that the SCO member states' foreign trade was over $6 trillion. At the same time, bilateral trade between the SCO member states grew 17 percent last year, reaching $305 billion, or five percent of the total foreign trade. These indexes are quite modest compared with other international associations such as ASEAN, where mutual intra-regional trade accounted for over 27 percent.

In this context, Mr Norov believes it important to develop an SCO member states' Cooperation Programme for the Development of Multi-Modal Transport and Logistics Centres, which would help to improve the logistic infrastructure of the centres connecting different types of transport, upgrade the existing networks and transport facilities throughout the SCO space, and speed up the processes of harmonisation of transport standards and phytosanitary rules.

The Secretary-General noted Russia's plans to increase China-Europe cargo traffic to 210 million tonnes in two or three years by upgrading the Baikal-Amur and the Trans-Siberian railways as well as Kazakhstan's intention to increase the transit flow to 50 million tonnes by 2030 by building new routes.

Mr Norov also mentioned the plans to build the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which is expected to become an important link in the future regional transport network as part of the East-West and North-South projects, thus providing the Central Asian countries, which are the SCO's nucleus, with access to international sea ports.

In conclusion, the SCO Secretary-General emphasised that holding the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai would help to further promote international cooperation in trade and the economy, including between the SCO member states.