SCO economic cooperation sees remarkable progress

Economic cooperation between Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states has been fruitful since the SCO was established 17 years ago, with remarkable progress in trade, investment and inter-connectivity projects, a Chinese official said on Thursday.

In the first quarter of 2018, trade volume between China and other SCO members jumped 20.7 percent year on year, picking up from 19-percent annual growth last year, Gao Feng, spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference.

In 2017, trade between China and other SCO member countries totaled US$217.6 billion, he said, noting that trade structure has been improving, with mechanical equipment and mechanical and electrical products taking up a larger share.

Chinese investment to SCO member countries reached 84 billion dollars as of the end of March this year, and many large energy, mining and industrial projects are progressing smoothly, Gao said.

With the signing of an SCO agreement on international road transportation facilitation and an infrastructure network covering roads, railways, energy and telecommunications taking shape, SCO members are enjoying stronger ties, he said.

The 18th SCO Summit is scheduled for June 9-10 in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. It will be the first SCO summit since its expansion in 2017, when India and Pakistan were accepted as full members at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan.

At the upcoming summit, China will join other SCO members to advocate for the Shanghai Spirit to seek common development, push forward a trade facilitation process and inject new impetus into SCO cooperation, Gao said.

He said he expects consensus to be reached at the summit on cooperation among micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and development of service trade, e-commerce and economic think tanks.