The Shanghai Cooperation Organization will actively engage in the Belt and Road initiative to enhance its role in regional economic development, Rashid Alimov, secretary-general of the SCO, said yesterday.
“Apart from encouraging cooperation in regional security, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will also make the expansion of business collaboration another priority of its work,” Rashid said in a speech at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences as part of events to celebrate the SCO’s 15th anniversary.
“We can play a special role in accelerating the Belt and Road initiative,” Rashid said.
He said the SCO has responded actively to the Belt and Road initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 to revive the ancient Silk Road, and will continue to push regional economic and cultural exchanges.
In 2014, members of the SCO signed a deal in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, to streamline transport of goods in the region as part of the initiative.
Yesterday, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said China will soon start talks with Eurasian countries on closer economic ties. It will also begin a feasible study on a free trade deal with the SCO “at an appropriate time.”
