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EEC and Secretariat of Shanghai Cooperation Organization signed Memorandum of Understanding within SCO anniversary summit
The document contemplates economic interaction with an accent on such areas as finance, trade policy and trade facilitation, transport, digitalization and information and communication technologies, sanitary, veterinary-sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures, customs policy, energy, industrial and agricultural cooperation and others.
As Mikhail Myasnikovich has noted, developing cooperation in the EAEU–SCO format meets the strategic interests of all Union States. This is particularly important given the role, significance and pace of development of the SCO participating countries’ economies which account for more than 30% of global GDP (38.5 trn US dollars), more than 16% of global trade (5.5 trn US dollars) and more than 41% of the world population (more than 3 bln people). Besides, the interest in the SCO deepens within the context of implementing the idea of the Greater Eurasian Partnership as well.
"The SCO is an important component of the interstate interaction and regional integration architecture in Eurasia. Along with that, the EAEU and the SCO Member States form the core of the Eurasian continent and their relations largely determines the vector of further region development," the Chairman of the EEC Board stressed.
The Chairman of the EEC Board took part in an expanded meeting of the Council of Heads of the SCO Member States dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the organization. The summit was held under the chairmanship of Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan, on September 16-17 in Dushanbe.
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, emphasized the signed Memorandum during his speech at the meeting of the Council of Heads of the SCO Member States. "Of course, this follows in the footsteps of implementing the Russian idea of creating the Greater Eurasian Partnership involving the SCO, Eurasec, the ASEAN countries and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative". I am convinced that joining various integration processes being developed in Eurasia and forming a common space, open, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in this vast region meets the interests of all our countries," the Head of State stated.
The SCO Member States were represented at the summit by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan, Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, Sadyr Zhaparov, President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. Besides, the Council’s meeting was attended by the Heads of Delegations of the organization's Observer States and representatives of international organizations. Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, delivered an address at the meeting.
Following the meeting, decisions were adopted to expand the membership: the procedure for admitting the Islamic Republic of Iran as a full-fledged SCO Member State and granting the status of a dialogue partner to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will be started, the Dushanbe Declaration as well as a joint action plan to overcome the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic will be signed.
For reference
The trade turnover between the EAEU and the SCO countries outside the EAEU consistently increased from 93.8 bln US dollars in 2016 to 158.8 bln US dollars in 2019. In 2020 due to external factors, it decreased by 8.3 bln US dollars, but in January-June 2021 it amounted to 86.6 bln US dollars, increasing by 23% compared to January-June 2020.
The Declaration on Establishment of the SCO was signed in Shanghai in June 2001 by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Nowadays, the SCO Member States are eight countries: the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Four countries have the Observer State status at the SCO: the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Mongolia. Six countries are the SCO dialogue partners: the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Republic of Turkey and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
