DUSHANBE, March 26, 2015, Asia-Plus – A meeting of the Heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) National Tourism Agencies took place in Moscow on March 25.
Representatives of tourist administrations from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan participated in the meeting. Tajikistan was represented at the event by Tajik Ambassador to Russia Imomuddin Sattorov.
According to the Tajik Embassy in Moscow, the meeting participants discussed the cooperation strategy for the tourist sector between SCO countries and exchanged views on the prospects for multilateral cooperation and measures to expand the tourist sector.
The meeting was reportedly sponsored by the SCO Secretariat, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russian Federal Agency for Tourism.
Founded by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on June 15, 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
The Organization currently has six full members — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India are four observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Belarus, 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. With observer states included, its affiliates account for about half of the world”s population.
