Spotlight: Kyrgyzstan endeavors to become bridge for SCO cooperation

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its 15th summit last week in Ufa, Russia, where Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a key speech on enhancing the SCO's development, cooperation and progress.

Kyrgyz experts have commented positively on this and think that the central Asian country can become a bridge for the cooperation among SCO member states and countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt, and contribute to regional development and prosperity.

ADVANTAGES TO PROMOTE REGIONAL COOPERATION

Kyrgyzstan, located in the hinterland of Eurasia, is both an SCO member state and a country on the Silk Road Economic Belt. It will soon become a full member state of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Kyrgyzstan wants to use its own characteristics and advantages to play a positive role in the integration process of the SCO, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the EEU.

Kuban Taabaldiev, general director of the Kyrgyz national news agency Kabar, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua that Kyrgyzstan has its geographical advantages of connecting both the SCO and EEU countries.

Meanwhile, as a member country of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Kyrgyzstan has good experience in cooperating with the WTO, he said. With such experience, Kyrgyzstan can become a good consultant within the SCO and help resolve many issues in multilateral economic cooperation via dialogues with its important neighbors Russia, China and Kazakhstan.

In recent years, Kyrgyzstan's WTO membership has helped the country become a hub for China to export commodities to Central Asia and even the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region.

Almaz Sazbakov, director of the Investment Promotion Agency under the Kyrgyz Economy Ministry, told Xinhua that becoming a full EEU member will certainly lead to some changes in Kyrgyzstan's trade cooperation with China, but will also bring new chances and spaces for the two countries' economic and commercial relations.

He said it is now profitable to invest in Kyrgyzstan, and the most promising areas will involve the manufacturing industry, agricultural and sideline products, and energy and tourism, among other sectors.

INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION BENEFITS ENTIRE REGION

Kyrgyzstan, bordering western China and located in the eastern part of the five Central Asian countries, is trying to make full use of its geographical advantages and China's interconnectivity projects to develop its own infrastructure and integrate into the SCO regional transport, logistics, trade, electricity supply and communication systems.

These years the China Road and Bridge company and other Chinese enterprises have completed the first construction phase of the North-South Highway and built several other transnational highways in Kyrgyzstan. This has helped Kyrgyzstan gradually set up a transportation network and link effectively with neighboring countries such as China, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Another Chinese firm, TBEA Xinjiang, finished the North-South power transmission project connecting the main electric arteries of Kyrgyzstan from north to south, which has won broad applause.

Line D of the Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline in Kyrgyzstan will also help boost regional economic and social development. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan is actively discussing the possibility with China of building railways between the two countries.

Kyrgyz political analyst Mars Saliev believes that the SCO trade and economic cooperation in recent years has achieved rapid development and pragmatic innovation. Many interconnectivity projects have been bringing more opportunities for the SCO countries.

He recalled that over the past years, Kyrgyzstan has transported a large quantity of goods from China to other SCO countries and even European countries. Today, China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative offers Kyrgyzstan new facilities to become a major transit center of Eurasia.

If the railway project between China and Kyrgyzstan is successfully implemented, the Central Asian state will obtain a convenient route through Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to Europe. Thus, Kyrgyzstan will gain easy access to a wider outside market, which will also benefit all countries along the railway, the analyst said. Endi