Economic cooperation to be in focus at SCO Council of Heads of govt meeting: Norov

Beijing: Secretary General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Vladimir Norov has said that economic cooperation will be in focus at the upcoming SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting to be held on November 30.

Norov said that with economic multilateralism and national capacity building, the SCO countries will be able to overcome the crisis of economic losses caused by the pandemic, according to SCO Secretariat here.

The secretary general said that the SCO as a grouping is paying special attention to measures to restore national economies in the post-pandemic period.

He also noted that the SCO acted as a strong platform in cooperation against COVID-19 and highlighted the importance of the international community’s efforts in strengthening the capacity of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Established in 2001, the SCO is a political, economic, and security bloc comprising eight members – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

SCO member states account for around 42 percent of the world’s population, 22 percent of the land area, and around 20 percent of global GDP.