Interview: Interaction of SCO, EEU, Belt to facilitate regional development: Russian expert

The linking of the Chinese initiative on Silk Road Economic Belt and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is coherent with the interests of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Russian expert has said.

In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, President of Russia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin said that the SCO would gain more momentum in economic cooperation, as it would act as an interaction platform of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the EEU initiatives.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed during Xi's visit to Moscow in early May to link each other's economic development initiatives, namely the EEU and the Silk Road Economic Belt initiatives, while the SCO is expected to play a key role in establishing such partnership.

The Silk Road Economic Belt, together with the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, commonly known as the "Belt and Road" initiatives, were proposed by Xi in 2013.

The initiatives bring together countries in Asia, Europe and even Africa via overland and maritime networks, with the purpose of boosting infrastructure building, financial cooperation and cultural exchanges in those regions.

The EEU is a regional organization founded by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. It officially came into effect on Jan. 1.

The EEU's main objectives are to form a single market, create more opportunities for the free movement of goods, services, investment and labor forces within the borders of the member countries by 2025, as well as introduce a coordinated economic policy.

"Without doubts, the development of SCO economic cooperation will be affected by the EEU and its prospective integration with Silk Road's infrastructure projects," Katyrin said.

He added that the bloc's economic functions would be strengthened during the integration progress, while additional development possibilities would be created for every participants in the region at the bilateral and multilateral levels.

"Since the founding of the SCO, economic cooperation along with security issues has been one of the major directions of the organization's activities," Katyrin said.

Noting that the SCO Business Council has contributed a lot to the development of both bilateral and multilateral business ties, Katyrin is confident that the 15th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, to be held in the Russian city of Ufa from July 9 to July 10, would be a historical milestone.

The success of the SCO is firstly based on cooperation on regional security issues, Katyrin said, adding that the bloc nowadays gradually acquired functions in fields like economy, science and humanitarianism.

Based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and trust, the SCO has contributed greatly to regional stabilization, steadily gaining influence as an effective working mechanism for peacekeeping and as an guarantor of stability in the Eurasian region, said Katyrin.

The Ufa summit is intended to consolidate the success of the SCO, also to guarantee promising development of the bloc in the future.

According to Katyrin, the turning of India and Pakistan from the status of observers into full SCO members would be discussed during the summit, which would bring many benefits to the development of the organization.

New members would strengthen the overall ability of the bloc to counter security challenges like terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as facilitate economic, energy, scientific and cultural cooperation, Katyrin noted.

He also expressed the hope for the Ufa summit to pass a joint declaration devoted to the 70th anniversary of the victory of World War II.

"We share the common approach to countering falsifications of history, attempts to dwarf the heroic deaths of liberators and to whitewash German Fascism and Japanese militarism," Katyrin stressed. Endi