DUSHANBE, September 15, Asia-Plus – Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov and his counterparts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have discussed energy cooperation and the 2007 SCO budget at a meeting in Dushanbe.
The fifth session of heads of the SCO governments held in Dushanbe on September 15 resulted in signing of a joint communiqu?.
Power supply within the Organization as well as transportation infrastructure, including a transport corridor from the Caspian Sea to China topped the agenda. The construction of hydroelectric power facilities in the Central Asian region, new transportation routes, fiber optic communications and partnership in scientific-technical fields and agriculture were discussed at the session.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Oqilov said a June 15 SCO summit in Shanghai gave a new impulse to development of this regional security and economic club. “At present the SCO has to solve new issues on optimization of cooperation,” Oqilov said, adding the SCO meeting in Dushanbe opened new ways of expansion of regional cooperation in the Eurasian area.
China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao telling a briefing following the session noted that the SCO is an organization aimed at expanding regional integration and opened for other countries. “The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is ready to cooperate with other organizations and countries to provide security and stability throughout the world,” Wen said.
“Five years is not that term to rest on laurels; however, these years have shown that the SCO is confidently advancing towards integration and cooperation’s spheres are expanding,“ Russian Premier Mikhail Fradkov remarked at briefing after the session.
Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov stressed that the SCO is a serious union and “In the future, it will pay a special attention to issues of providing energy security in the region.” He expressed confidence that the Dushanbe session is an important step towards further development of the organization.
For his part, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Felix Kulov told journalists noted that the SCO is an efficient mechanism of the realization of cooperation between the countries of the region in the field of economy, commerce, etc.
Transport ministers from the SCO member nations (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) signed a memorandum of understanding on speeding up a draft agreement on the creation of favorable conditions for international vehicular transportation.
In the meantime, some Russian media report that Vneshekonombank CEO Vladimir Dmitriyev telling the SCO prime ministers’ session in Dushanbe noted that the inter-bank union of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has already overcome the period of transition and begun active work. “The inter-bank union may contribute to stronger investment, trade, economic and humanitarian relations between the SCO member nations,” he said. “The investment cooperation projects may cover transport, water supply, energy generation and mining industry that was traditionally developed in the SCO member countries, mainly in Central Asia,” he said. Dmitriyev pointed out that the inter-bank union may play a decisive role in strengthening economy of the SCO member-states.
According to Itar-Tass, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov offered to create an international center for providing nuclear fuel cycle services within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Founded in 2001, the SCO originally dealt with security and confidence-building issues, but has broadened its priorities to include economic cooperation as well as transportation, disaster relief and cultural projects.
