China says SCO admission to boost India-Pakistan ties
July 6, 2015, 6:24 am

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit will be held in the Russian city of Ufa on 9-10 July, overlapping with the BRICS Leaders Summit [Image: brics2015.ru]

“India and Pakistan’s admission to the SCO will play an important role in the SCO’s development it will play a constructive role in pushing for the improvement of their bilateral relations,” said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping.

Cheng was addressing a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit will be held in the Russian city of Ufa on 9-10 July.

SCO leaders will meet the heads of state from the five BRICS countries in Ufa this week.

A joint BRICS-SCO financial forum will also be held on Wednesday in Ufa.

Ufa will host the BRICS and SCO Financial Forum where participants, including the new BRICS Bank President Kundapur Vaman Kamath, will discuss “the role of financial institutions in promoting the development of regions, supporting sustainable growth, innovation and social stability, and other important issues in global finance”, said an official statement.

The financial meet, to be held a day after the $100 billion BRICS Bank officially commences business, is being organised by Russian Vnesheconombank, which chairs the BRICS and SCO interbank associations.

Both China and Russia have invested heavily in the resource-rich region of Central Asia.

Alexander Yakovenko, Russian envoy to the UK, has said “the SCO Business Council, Interbank Consortium, and Energy Club are at the forefront of expanding practical cooperation among member states”.

China, Russia and four Central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – formed the SCO in 2001 as a regional security bloc to fight threats posed by terrorism and drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan.

As the US and EU step up pressure on Moscow with threats of new rounds of sanctions, Russia is seeking to strengthen ties with allies in the region, predominantly the BRICS and SCO members.

Observer states at the SCO are Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan. Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka have a status of partners in dialogue.

India and Pakistan will be granted full-fledged membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at its summit this week.

Russia has taken over presidency of the SCO in September 2014. Moscow has vowed to use its presidency of the SCO to advocate for coordinated steps on the economy, financial sector, energy, and food security.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping said last year that members of the SCO share identical views on economic and political cooperation, including the Ukraine crisis and subsequent sanctions.

“At the meeting in narrow format we discussed some other current international affairs too, including the situation in Ukraine. We are very pleased to see that we share identical or similar views on the main areas of cooperation. This consensus of views is reflected in the Dushanbe Declaration that we are adopting,” said Putin.

TBP and Agencies