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SCO member-states should broaden economic ties — former Secretary-General

Practical steps has already been done in this sphere, particularly in transport connectivity, Rashid Alimov said

BEIJING, July 2. /TASS/. Member-nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should expand the collaborative efforts of relevant authorities in order to build up economic interaction, former Secretary-General of SCO Rashid Alimov said in an interview with the Global Times newspaper.

"What is realistic is a step-by-step expansion of cooperation between relevant ministries and departments. This is being done quite successfully, especially in recent years," Alimov said, commenting on the prospects of economic integration within the SCO framework.

Practical steps has already been done in this sphere, particularly in transport connectivity, the ex-official said. Alimov pointed to the important role of the Belt and Road Initiative in implementation of relevant project.

Establishment of a unified payment system for SCO and the free trade regime among the Organization members is "an unrealistic task" thus far, the ex-Secretary General said. " For the SCO, even in the most distant future, to become a single economic space or free trade zone, it is necessary to unify different trade, economic, investment and currency regimes, divergent production and financial standards, different business practices and much more," Alimov noted.

The SCO will soon start discussing the New Economic Dialogue program, with its main objective being the search for solutions for current and expected problems of trade and economic cooperation and elaboration of proposals to improve the architecture of the global economic governance, Alimov said. Issues of creating the joint development fund, the free trade zone and the SCO unified payment system will obviously be discussed "as part of the upcoming dialogue," he added.

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