DUSHANBE, September 11, 2008, Asia-Plus — The Russian city of Irkutsk, in the Siberia, hosted a board meeting of the Business Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) today.
The meeting is timed to coincide with the 5th Baikal Economic Forum that wrapped up its work a day earlier on Wednesday. The Baikal Economic Forum ended its work in Irkutsk on Wednesday. It was attended by delegations of the SCO member countries, including China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The tradition of holding an SCO Day within the framework of the Baikal Economic Forum has been running since 2006. Irkutsk has again been as the venue this year.
The Baikal Economic Forum (BEF) has been held on a regular basis once in two years in Irkutsk since 2000. The host of this important international event is the Council of Federation of the Russian Federal Assembly. The objective of the BEF is to provide intellectual support and policies to the Russian Government, taking into account the increasing importance of Siberia and the Far East in the development of the national economy and the rapidly evolving economic cooperation with Asia Pacific countries and regional forums like APEC, ASEAN, and ARF.
The following topics are on the agenda of today’s meeting: the results of the summit of the heads of state of the SCO countries, held in Dushanbe on August 28; the activities of public health institutions in the SCO member states; joint energy projects, agro-industrial cooperation; and initiatives to develop insurance institutions and innovative projects, especially venture funds.
The meeting is also considering issues related to preparations for a meeting of the SCO heads of government that will be held in Kazakhstan next month.
Head of Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) also Representative of the National Branch of the SCO Business Council from Tajikistan, Sharif Said, is representing Tajikistan at the meeting.
The SCO Business Council was set up in Shanghai, China on June 14 2006 with the aim to promote further expansion of cooperation between the SCO member nations in trade and economic, financial, scientific-technical, energy, transportation, communication, agricultural and other spheres. It is intended to serve as an instrument of building direct ties and dialogue between the business and financial circles of the SCO member states, involving them in multi-faceted business cooperation in economic and investment spheres. The Council’s task is to search for effective instruments of raising the living standards in member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
