The heads of government from the six member states of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) gathered in Tajikistan's
capital on Friday to discuss and delineate their economic and
energy cooperation.
At the fifth annual meeting, the leaders pledged to implement
the consensus reached in the 2006 SCO summit, held in June in
Shanghai, the regional organization's birthplace.
The six heads of government are Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal
Akhmetov, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Kyrgyz Prime Minister FeliksKulov,
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Tajik Prime Minister Akil
Akilov and Ukzbek Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who arrived there late Thursday,
said boosting economic cooperation had become a consensus of all
sides.
"After years of effort, we have set up the major goals and
priority areas for economic cooperation, formulated a well-grounded
legal basis, and set up multi-faceted cooperative mechanisms and
channels," Wen told the meeting.
Owing to sharp differences in legislature, policy-making, fund
shortage and weak infrastructure, economic cooperation had been
somehow hindered, Wen said.
To address the problem, Wen suggested the launching of projects
which could network more than one side and bring benefits for
all.
China has pledged to expand its trade with other SCO members
from the current US$40 billion to 80, even US$100 billion in
2010.
A joint communique issued after the meeting revealed that all
sides had agreed to set energy, transportation and
telecommunications as their priorities for cooperation.
To address the energy concerns, the member states have agreed to
launch an energy working group.
The working group, along with SCO's Secretariat, was ordered to
study the possibility of establishing an SCO energy club, the joint
communique said.
Kazakhstan and Russia will table their proposal to hold a
meeting of the heads of energy departments from SCO members in
2007.
Another bottleneck for SCO cooperation is fund shortage. The
problem should be resolved "by multiple channels," Premier Wen
suggested.
He urged the utilization of the SCO inter-bank union and the
raising of funds from the market when launching large projects.
Cooperation between SCO members and international financial
institutions, such as the Asian Development Bank, should also be
promoted, he said.
From within, all SCO members agreed to "simplify administrative
and customs procedures for cross-border transport within the SCO
member states," they said in the joint communique.
The prime ministers urged their governments, enterprises and
financial institutions to use the SCO platform to advance
communications within the organization and with the outside
commercial and social circles.
The SCO, a regional organization founded in June, 2001, now
groups China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan, with Pakistan, Mongolia, Iran and India holding
observer status.
(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2006)