Beijing/Astana, 1 November 2022 (TDI): The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Alikhan Smailov, addressed the 21st meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of Government (SCO-CHG).
Alikhan Smailov highlighted in his speech that Kazakhstan prioritize multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework. Nevertheless, he stresses on need to improve the activities of the Organization.
He asserted that Kazakhstan now needed to focus more on removing trade restrictions and bringing technical regulations into line.
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In this regard, an effective measure is the Plan for Intraregional Trade Development for 2023-2025, on which decision was made at the Samarkand summit.
The Prime Minister noted a good degree of development in the SCO despite the global pandemic of 2019 and other regional issues.
According to a finding, economic growth rates in the SCO member states ranged from 4-9%, and the sum of all commerce between Kazakhstan and the SCO member states climbed by 22 percent to close to $51 billion.
Subsequently, he further focused on the significance of participation from member state banks and development organizations in financially assisting trade agreements and export transactions within the SCO Interbank Association’s mandate.
While drawing attention towards investment and advance technology, he urged SCO states for a methodical approach to the feasible use of the SCO Technoparks and Innovation Clusters Pool notion.
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He also advocate for the establishment of an association for big investment funds called the Association of Investors of the SCO Member States, which will focus on developing joint initiatives in economic sectors and exchanging business information and industry standards.
He also mentioned Kazakhstan’s commitment to initiatives regarding agriculture and stressed on the significance of collective actions to guarantee food security.
Moreover, he presented idea of forming a joint programme in the field of breeding and seed production. According to the Prime Minister, this would encourage agricultural progress, enable collaboration between SCO states’ scientific breeding facilities, and ultimately improve food security.
Alikhan Smailov encouraged coordinated efforts to create committed transit and transportation routes in the region. In same vein, he mentioned the potential of “Aktau port to become a on the route India – Persian Gulf countries – Iran – Kazakhstan – Russia”.
He further said that in the contemporary world, the Trans-Caspian transport corridor plays a bigger part in supplying transit movements between China, Central Asia, and Europe.
The collaborative use of the possibilities provided by this route would guarantee stable cargo volumes and environmentally friendly transportation.
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Alikhan Smailov suggested developing a pilot programme of interaction between the top universities of the member state for the development of cultural, humanitarian, and environmental partnerships.
The interaction would support young talents in art, design, advertising, and other creative industries.
He said, “Today the SCO is a dynamically developing international platform, as evidenced by the expansion of its geography. The organisation brings together countries whose growth and development will be the main driving force of the world economy in the coming decades.”
He added, “It is important that our countries move towards each other, opening up new windows of opportunity.”
On concluding his speech he was confident about the decisions made in the 21st SCO-CHG meeting.
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