BEIJING, July 4. /TASS/. The Chinese government calls on the states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to increase the share of national currencies in trade settlements between the countries of the association, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening of the SCO summit on Tuesday.

"I consider it essential to increase the share of settlements in national currencies within the organization," he said.

"We need to strengthen cooperation on sovereign digital currencies and work on establishing the SCO Development Bank" Xi Jinping stated. He noted that China is willing to allow partners access its market and share development expertise.

The SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001. As of today, the organization comprises eight countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as the founding states and also India and Pakistan that joined the organization in 2017.