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Russia backs idea of setting up association of tour operators over space of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

According to the governor, the Russian side closely examines this question, including with Chinese partners

BEIJING, March 24 (Itar-Tass) — Russia backs an idea of setting up an association of tour operators over the space of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), said in an interview with Itar-Tass Governor of the Irkutsk Region and board chairman of the SCO Business Council Dmitry Mezentsev.

He participated on Saturday in the opening ceremony of the first Russian-Chinese forum on cooperation in the tourism sphere.

According to the governor, the Russian side closely examines this question, including with Chinese partners.

“The Russian national part of the SCO Business Council has already displayed an initiative in this sphere,” Mezentsev said, noting that this question was discussed in November 2011 at a meeting of the heads of government of the SCO member states in St. Petersburg.

He believes that the ongoing Year of Russian Tourism in China can be also used for establishing leading positions of Russia and China in the tourist sphere over the SCO space. “We regard it as correct that the Year of Russian Tourism in China should be marked both by work on a bilateral basis as well as by a display of leading positions by representatives of the tour industries of our countries over the SCO space,” Mezentsev noted.

“The brand of Lake Baikal is known all over the world; it is known in China, and I believe that the brief presentation we have made on Saturday, showed that we have a real future, and we shall build a model of this future, including with Chinese partners,” the governor summer up.