Pakistan urges SCO to speed up economic integration, operationalize development bank

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan on Tuesday urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to accelerate economic integration by operationalizing financial tools such as the proposed SCO Development Bank and expanding its university network for regional prosperity.

Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said achieving the shared objectives of prosperity for the people required "deeper partnerships across trade, economy, culture, and humanitarian cooperation."

He was addressing the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO member states in Moscow.

"We propose to operationalize financial tools for the promotion of trade and economy, while our efforts continue to make available diversified financial tools such as the SCO Development Bank and development and investment funds for our economies and businesses," he said.

"We must aggressively utilize the tools already at our disposals, like the SCO interbank consortium to finance connectivity and technical collaboration projects," Dar added.

The SCO had decided to establish a Development Bank at the 25th summit of heads of state and government, held in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Aug. 31-Sept. 1 this year.

To build human capital, Dar proposed expanding the SCO university network into “a consortium for applied knowledge,” and said it would facilitate not just student exchanges, but also joint research programs in critical fields such as information technology, artificial intelligence, water resource management, agriculture, and telemedicine.

Dar said that Islamabad has developed a technology-driven proactive disaster management system and is keen to organize simulation exercises with SEO partners to bolster disaster preparedness across the region.

The SCO is composed of 10 member states, two observer states, and 14 dialogue partners.