MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. Moscow would like Eurasia to be a space of peace, stability and mutual trust, according to Russia’s updated Foreign Policy Concept, approved by President Vladimir Putin’s decree on Friday.
"Russia seeks to transform Eurasia into a continental common space of peace, stability, mutual trust, development and prosperity," the document reads.
Achieving this goal implies the "comprehensive strengthening of the SCO's [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] potential and role in ensuring security in Eurasia and promoting its sustainable development by enhancing the organization's activities in the light of current geopolitical realities," the concept said.
Russia will also seek the "establishment of the broad Greater Eurasian Partnership integration contour by combining the potential of all the states, regional organizations and Eurasian associations, based on the EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union], the SCO and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as the conjunction of the EAEU development plans and the Chinese initiative "One Belt One Road" while preserving the possibility for all the interested states and multilateral associations of the Eurasian continent to participate in this partnership and - as a result - establishment of a network of partner organizations in Eurasia."
In addition, Moscow calls for the "strengthening of the economic and transport interconnectivity in Eurasia, including through the modernization and increased capacity of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian railway; the rapid launch of the International North - South Transport Corridor; improvement of infrastructure of the Western Europe - Western China International Transit Corridor, the Caspian and the Black Sea regions, and the Northern Sea Route; creation of development zones and economic corridors in Eurasia, including the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, as well as increased regional cooperation in digital development and establishment of an energy partnership."
Afghanistan issue
According to the Foreign Policy Concept, ensuring peace and stability in Eurasia also requires a "comprehensive settlement in Afghanistan, assistance in building it as a sovereign, peaceful and neutral state with stable economy and political system, which meets the interests of all the ethnic groups living there and opens up prospects for integrating Afghanistan into the Eurasian space for cooperation."