Ambassadors laud cooperation space

Organization, along with B&R, seen bringing immense potential for development across region

Deeper regional cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Eurasia under the Belt and Road Initiative will bring prosperity and long-lasting peace, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states believe.

Speaking at the Belt and Road Innovation and Development Forum on Nov 3 in Hong Kong, SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov said the organization, covering 60 percent of the Eurasian continent and nearly half the global population, has created a huge space for cooperation within Eurasia.

"According to the statistics in 2016, the overall GDP of countries related to our organization reached $15 trillion, while the overall trade volume reached $5.9 trillion," Alimov said. "Along with the joining of India and Pakistan, we have become the biggest comprehensive regional organization."

SCO is an inter-governmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001, whose member states are India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

With more opportunities and better connectivity brought by the Belt and Road, Alimov said SCO will continue to promote international and regional cooperation, with a focus on mutual respect and mutual interest. To fulfill that, he said economic cooperation is of great importance; investment in infrastructure, telecommunications and trade will continue.

Alimov expected to build a logistics hub in the region to connect southern China, northwestern Europe and the Middle East for cross-border investment, and SCO will work to improve transportation infrastructure, simplify customs procedures and provide one-stop solutions for future logistics.

Referring to the forum theme "The Belt and Road and Eurasia: Reality, Prospects", Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov said the partnership among Eurasian countries can contribute to trade and investment goals, sustainable social and economic development, as well as common prosperity.

China and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have finished substantial negotiations on an economic and trade cooperation agreement in October, which Denisov thinks is "one of the initial steps of conjugation" of EEU and the Belt and Road.

Masood Khalid, ambassador of Pakistan to China, said the Belt and Road Initiative has become a key instrument to regional and international connectivity. "Just like the historical Silk Road, it offers wide avenues of cooperation based on mutual prosperity and cooperation. It is set to bring together different regions and shrink the distance among civilizations."

He said Pakistan, with a long coastline, is a key transit point on the Maritime Silk Road. "The development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with its linkage with other similar initiatives under the Belt and Road provides opportunities to the member states of SCO to boost their energy export and trade potential by using Pakistan as a transit point."

The CPEC is a 3,000 kilometer network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas from southern Pakistan's Gwadar Port to Kashgar city in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Parviz Davlatzoda, ambassador of Tajikistan to China, said Tajikistan was at the crossroads of the Silk Road. He expects the Belt and Road will help enhance connectivity for countries in Central Asia, especially a landlocked country such as Tajikistan, with the rest of world.

Bakhtiyor Saidov, ambassador of Uzbekistan to China, said that apart from transportation infrastructure, cooperation in science and technology as well as financing should improve.

Saidov said Uzbekistan's average GDP growth for the past 13 years was 8 percent, which shows the country is geared toward high-speed economic growth. He hopes to see more investment from China and other SCO member states and their companies.

The permanent representative of Kazakhstan at the SCO Secretariat and minister-counselor of the embassy of Kazakhstan to China, Yerik Ashimov, said Kazakhstan has more than 50 development projects aligned with the Belt and Road Initiative.

Ashimov stressed the importance of developing technology. "We believe that the development of technology will serve as an important driving force for economic growth," said Ashimov. "At the same time, we will work hard to establish cooperation with various enterprises for technology transfer."

kelly@chinadailyapac.com

(HK Edition 11/04/2017 page5)