BISHKEK (TCA) — At a meeting in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on November 3, the six-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) proposed to advance the establishment of a development bank and a fund to boost financial cooperation, China Daily reported.
The proposal was signed by the member countries at the 15th meeting of the prime ministers of the group, which consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
China Premier Li Keqiang said at the meeting that China is open to the establishment of a free-trade zone among the SCO members.
“Member countries should break restrictions in the economy and trade by establishing a free-trade zone to expand wider-scale exchanges in this field,” Li said.
A list of 38 “pragmatic measures” was approved at the meeting to govern cooperation in fields such as finance, transport and agriculture from 2017 to 2021.
Experts said these proposals showed that SCO is moving beyond traditional concerns like fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promote pragmatic cooperation in the economic sphere.
After the SCO meeting in Bishkek, on the same day Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana where he met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Li said that China was willing to deepen the production capacity cooperation with Kazakhstan, expand cooperation in energy, connectivity and deep processing of agricultural products, and increase people-to-people exchanges, Xinhua reported.
Li also called on the two countries to strengthen coordination under the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan stands ready to deepen the cooperation in production capacity with China and push forward the implementation of more projects in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan is willing to expand cooperation with China in energy, agriculture and technology innovation, and strengthen the bilateral trade, Nazarbayev said.
