TASHKENT (TCA) — During his visit to Tashkent on November 2, Kazakhstan Prime Minister Askar Mamin attended the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, at which he put forward a number of initiatives to strengthen practical cooperation of the organization’s member countries in trade, economic, investment, digital, transport and other fields, the Kazakh prime minister’s press service reported.
The SCO comprises eight member states — China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
During the meeting in a narrow format, Mamin proposed intensifying work on the creation of the SCO Development Bank and the SCO Development Fund, jointly developing a Road Map to increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements of the organization’s member states, and renewing meetings of finance ministers and heads of central banks of SCO member states.
The head of the Kazakh government noted the efficient work of the parties in the transport and logistics direction. Mamin suggested expanding the participation of observer states in the cooperation mechanisms of the SCO member states in the railway sector, accelerating the implementation of an automated system for issuing permit forms for the road transport of goods and approving a joint program for the development of roads of the SCO member states.
At the extended meeting, the Kazakh prime minister emphasized the need to develop trade and economic cooperation in the format of multilateral dialogue between the SCO, EEU, ASEAN, and the EU.
He also invited SCO member countries to use the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) platform to test new financial products and technologies.
Mamin also initiated the creation of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy.
“The Council could become a platform for the development of mutually beneficial partnership for the introduction in our countries of such new technological elements as 5G, Smart Cities, big data, blockchain, digital assets, as well as the construction and deployment of data centers, the development of data transit, participation in the global market for digital services,” said the prime minister of Kazakhstan.
