Heads of government from member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have vowed to boost trade and economic cooperation.
A session of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO member nations took place in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on November 3.
The meeting participants reportedly focused on the prospects of economic cooperation between the SCO member nations.
Speaking at the meeting, acting Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sooronbay Zheenbekov, noted, “An intense expansion of trade and economic cooperation within the SCO area, which must remain one of priories, will promote further strengthening of our Organization.”
According to the Russian cabinet press service, the meeting participants discussed and adopted the SCO budget for 2017 as well as the list of activities scheduled for 2017-2020.
In addition, the agreement on the establishment of the SCO University was reportedly signed at the meeting.
As it had been reported earlier, the SCO University will not be located in any particular one place, but it will function as a network of the already existing universities in the SCO member nations.
The SCO common network university is expected to target the four areas (courses): regional studies; ecology; IT-technology; and energy. The main languages of instruction at the universities will be Russian and Chinese, as well as the state language of the country in which the university is located.
On the whole, eleven documents were reportedly signed at the SCO prime ministers’ meeting in Bishkek, including the concept of the scientific and technical cooperation and the program for the development of roads.
The meeting participants also signed a joint communiqué on cooperation.
The Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest council in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This council holds annual summits, at which the member nations discuss issues of multilateral cooperation. The council also approves the organization's budget.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization currently has six full members — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are six observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.
The Organization’s six full members account for 60% of the land mass of Eurasia and its population is a quarter of the world’s population. With observer states included, its affiliates account for about half of the world’s population.
