SCO calls for broad economic cooperation

SCO Deputy Secretary-General Aziz Nosirov attended the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), which opened in Boao, Hainan Province in China, on 25 March 2017.

The leaders of regional Asian organisations attended a roundtable discussion titled Globalisation and Asian Regional Cooperation.

Mr Nosirov reviewed the SCO summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in June 2016 and the SCO Heads of Government Council meeting held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in December 2016. He pointed out "the SCO's focus on boosting broad international cooperation to promote global economic revival and support economic and financial stability and sustainable, dynamic, balanced and inclusive growth." He talked about practical economic cooperation in the SCO and cited the example of the SCO Agreement on Facilitation of International Road Transport, which was drafted with support from UNESCAP and signed in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 2014. He said that this Agreement is open for signing by any country that is willing to contribute to its implementation.

The roundtable participants exchanged opinions on current issues of regional cooperation and were updated on the SCO events planned for 2017. Aziz Nosirov told them about the SCO's plans to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its Charter (the founding document) and the 10th anniversary of the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation. The key SCO events this year will be a meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council (SCO Summit), which will be held in Astana, the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in June. The main event for India and Pakistan will be their admission to the SCO as full members.

Aziz Nosirov invited roundtable participants to the SCO pavilion at the Expo 2017 world fair in Astana, which will open after the SCO Summit.

The discussion was attended by Vice Foreign Minister of China Liu Zhenmin, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh, Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Gong Jianwei, Secretary-General of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat of China, Japan and South Korea Yang Houlan, Secretary General of the Provisional Secretariat of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Bundit Limschoon, General Secretary of the ASEAN-China Centre Yang Xiuping, Director of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) JunHong Chang, Assistant Professor Dattesh Parulekar from Goa University, Director of the Asia Pacific Department at the China Institute of International Studies Liu Qing, and Executive Director of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) China Office Atul Dalakoti.