A regular meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (hereinafter referred to as the SCO and/or the Organisation) took place on 14 October 2009 in Beijing. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.K.Masimov, the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic I.V.Chudinov, the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan A.G.Akilov and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan S.M.Mirziyoev took part.
The Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Wen Jiabao chaired the meeting.
The SCO Secretary-General B.K.Nurgaliev and the Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure M.U.Subanov were in attendance.
Representatives of the SCO observer states – the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Republic of India M.Deora, the First Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran M.R.Rahimi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Mongolia S.Batbold and the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Y.R.Gilani as well as the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan K.Khalili as the guest of the host state were in attendance and delivered statements.
The Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Hu Jintao received the heads of delegations of the member states.
In a friendly and constructive spirit the heads of government considered the current international political and economic environment, assessed existing opportunities and challenges. A comprehensive discussion was held on the ways of deepening practical cooperation in various fields, as well as of jointly confronting the global financial economic crisis. After the exchange of opinions mutual understanding was reached on a wide range of issues.
1. The heads of government noted with satisfaction that since the previous meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government of the SCO Member States (CHG) in Astana (30 October 2008) cooperation among the member states of the Organisation in political, economic and cultural fields was characterised by steady progress; friendship, good-neighbourly relationship, mutual trust and multifaceted interaction continued to develop.
Under the current global and regional situation, in order to ensure steady development of the SCO and promotion of common interests of the member states, the parties underlined the importance of consecutive implementation of the Treaty on long-term good-neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation among the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation signed on 16 August 2007 and the agreements of Yekaterinburg summit (15-16 June 2009).
2. The heads of government noted that the SCO member states had been taking effective measures to ensure the stability of their national economies. Safeguarding them against emerging threats and risks, as well as strengthening economic cooperation in the SCO framework, including promotion of regional economic development and implementation of the Action Plan on Fulfillment of the Programme of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation among the SCO Member States, is a vital task aimed to effectively confront the global financial economic crisis.
A timely step is the adoption during this CHG meeting of the Joint Initiative on increasing multilateral economic cooperation in the field of tackling the consequences of the global financial economic crisis and ensuring further economic development of the SCO member states.
Exchanges among the business communities of the member states are meant to play a growing role in boosting trade, economic and investment cooperation in the SCO framework. The parties highly rated the outcome of the Trade and Industry Forum held in Beijing on the sidelines of the CHG meeting.
3. The parties acknowledged the need to increase financial cooperation in the framework of the Organisation. In accordance with the agreements of Yekaterinburg summit the financial departments will increase sharing of information on the issues of tackling the consequences of the global financial economic crisis. The parties will study a possibility of holding a meeting of finance ministers and heads of central banks.
The relevant institutions of the SCO member states jointly with the Council of National Coordinators were instructed to expedite agreeing of the Main Principles of Formation and Management of the SCO Special Account.
4. The heads of government emphasised the role of the SCO Business Council and Interbank Consortium as an important platform for SCO economic and financial cooperation and in generating proposals concerning implementation of promising joint regional projects.
5. The heads of government instructed the relevant ministries and departments to take the necessary measures for more effective use of the existing transit potential of the SCO member states, further improvement of the transport infrastructure, strengthening the legal base for transport cooperation.
6. The heads of government spoke for the earliest possible launch of the projects "SCO information superhighway" and "Establishment of electronic transnational interaction with the use of electronic digital signature".
7. Underlining the importance of establishing agricultural cooperation in the framework of the Organisation, the heads of government gave a task to speed up preparations for the first meeting of ministers of agriculture and consideration of the draft Agreement among the governments of the SCO member states on cooperation in this field.
8. The heads of government reaffirmed that in current conditions science and technology cooperation is contributing to enhancing the capability of the SCO member states in confronting global challenges and threats. In this regard there is special significance for agreed measures to draft and carry out joint science and technology programmes and projects in the priority areas of common interest such as science, technology and innovation development of the SCO member states. The first meeting of heads of science and technology ministries and departments of the SCO member states is meant to play an important role in forming common approaches.
9. The heads of government spoke for further deepening of customs cooperation, simplification of trading procedures, raising the traffic capacity and effectiveness of border posts, optimisation of border facilities with the aim of promoting regional trade and economic cooperation.
10. The parties acknowledged the need to enhance cooperation in the field of application of standards, metrology, technical regulations, conformity evaluation, check and control procedures, coordination and settlement of the issues of ensuring the safety and quality of goods in regional trade, facilitation of the growth of commodity turnover.
11. The heads of government noted the need to take agreed measures for joint counteraction against threats of natural and manmade disasters with the aim of enhancing emergency response capability.
12. Positively rating the achievements of cooperation in the social and cultural fields, the heads of government stand up for further strengthening and improvement of its mechanisms. The parties also acknowledged the expediency of continuing the practice of holding regular forums of university rectors and education weeks of the SCO member states.
13. Cooperation in the field of healthcare, establishing partnership ties among the relevant medical institutions of the SCO member states, taking stronger joint preventive measures to fight against infectious diseases is acquiring great importance. In this regard the parties noted the significance of the Joint Statement on fighting against infectious diseases in the SCO region adopted during this CHG meeting.
14. Stating the steady progress in practical cooperation between the SCO member and observer states, the heads of government welcome participation of the observer states and dialogue partners in economic and cultural cooperation in the framework of the Organisation with the aim of promoting common development and prosperity in the region.
15. The heads of government approved the Report of the SCO Secretariat on the process of fulfilling the Programme of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation among the SCO Member States.
The parties also considered a series of issues concerning the financial and organisational activity of the SCO permanent bodies, and approved the budget of the Organisation for 2010.
During the meeting plenipotentiary representatives of the SCO member states signed the Protocol among the customs departments of the SCO member states on cooperation in the field of training and raising the professional skills of customs officers.
The heads of government highly appreciated the organisation and staging of the SCO CHG meeting and expressed gratitude to the Chinese side for its hospitality.
The next meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO Member States will be held in 2010 in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan
The Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China
The Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic
The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan
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