SCO offers opportunities for Eurasian infrastructure development: Russian PM

Modern infrastructure opportunities offered by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will facilitate the development of a wide range of business projects in Eurasia, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday.

In his address to the seventh SCO transportation ministers meeting in the Russian city of Ufa, Medvedev noted that coordination of efforts among SCO countries is a good opportunity to speed up the building and upgrade of highways, railroads and air routes.

"Modern infrastructure is the key to the implementation of many business projects, large-scale initiatives, in order to establish advanced manufacturing workplaces," he added.

SCO countries in 2014 signed an agreement on providing favorable conditions for international land transportation, which is to be followed by a program of coordinated road construction among SCO members.

In this regard, Medvedev vowed that Russia's Baikal-Amur railroad can be used in the interests of the entire bloc and all Eurasian countries.

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

Russia holds the rotating presidency of the SCO in 2015, with a summit to be held in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan republic, at the beginning of July. Endi