FM raises five-point proposal on boosting SCO cooperation

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward a five-point proposal at a ministerial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Dushanbe on Thursday, as part of the efforts to promote the group's influence and healthy development.

First, SCO members should coordinate and cooperate closely to actively deal with the new threats and challenges in regional affairs and try to explore topics and ways of multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework, Wang said at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO.

The members should work out a medium- and long-term development strategy to cope with the new situation, maintain regional security and development interests, and promote the well-being of the peoples of SCO states and turn the SCO into a model for regional cooperation organizations, Wang said.

Second, all SCO members should increase support to each other and boost unity and interaction, he said.

The countries should jointly guard the development paths and political systems they choose for themselves and help the SCO play a larger role in safeguarding sovereignty, security, development and other core interests of the member states, the Chinese top diplomat said.

Third, SCO members should beef up cooperation in law enforcement and promote their capabilities to maintain stability, in particular, to enhance cooperation in intelligence sharing, personnel training, and fight against terror and drug-trafficking, Wang said.

He urged all SCO members to actively join the national reconciliation and peaceful reconstruction process of Afghanistan and push for a settlement there in the common interests of the Afghan people and peoples of all other countries in the region.

Fourth, Wang called for deepening practical cooperation and overcoming the bottleneck of development.

He said the SCO members could make full use of the market potentials and resource advantages of the group and put into action a package of reciprocal multilateral cooperation projects in various fields such as transportation, telecommunications, finance, energy, agriculture and infrastructure.

He urged to speed up the establishment of a fund-raising mechanism within the group and further facilitate the traffic link between SCO members.

China welcomes other SCO members to take part in the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt out of their own will, he said.

Fifth, Wang urged SCO members to get ready for the group's expansion and open channels to absorb new members.

Founded in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It has Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observers, and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners.

Wang said China sticks to the principles of friendship, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in dealing with its neighbors and always takes the SCO as a key priority in its foreign policy.

China is ready to make joint efforts with other parties to continue to uphold the Shanghai Spirit and take the opportunities of the Dushanbe summit later this year to make greater contributions to the SCO development, Wang said.