Presidents of the six member states of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization met the representatives of entrepreneurs from the six countries
Wednesday evening with the hope that the business people will work together to
promote overall prosperity in the region.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President
Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov congratulated the
entrepreneurs on the newly established SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee.
The presidents are in Shanghai for the SCO's 2006 summit slated for Thursday.
Representatives of entrepreneurs from the six SCO members -- China,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan --gathered here on the
eve of the summit to set up the committee and explore ways for enhancing
regional economic cooperation.
"The establishment of the SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee has built a very good
platform for closer exchanges and cooperation between businesses of the six SCO
economies," said Chinese President Hu Jintao while meeting the entrepreneurs.
Among the SCO member states, the factors of sound economic development,
complementary economic structure, improving trade and investment environment,
and opening markets have created good conditions and opportunities for regional
economic cooperation, he added.
"Active participation of the entrepreneurs will definitely make the SCO
render substantial results in economic cooperation and bring more tangible
benefits to the peoples of the member countries," the Chinese president said.
The SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee is a non-governmental organization to
promote multilateral cooperation in trade, finance, science and technology,
energy, transportation, telecommunication and agriculture.
More than 140 large and medium-sized businesses from the six countries have
become full members of the committee.
China will provide loans or assistance within its capacity to fund a number
of transportation, telecommunication and electricity projects among the SCO
members so as to boost regional economic growth, Chinese State Councilor Tang
Jiaxuan said at Wednesday's meeting marking the establishment of the committee.
About 200 entrepreneurs and officials attended the meeting.
But Tang did not give any details about these projects or how much China's
aid will be worth.
Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou said Tuesday that some 2
billion U.S. dollars worth of business contracts and loan agreements are
expected to be inked on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
Yu said the deals would include a highway project connecting Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan, two high-voltage electricity lines in Tajikistan, a cement plant in
Kyrgyzstan with a daily production of 2,500 tons, and a hydropower station in
Kazakhstan.
The six SCO member countries take up 60 percent of Eurasia and their
population accounts for a quarter of the world's total. The six economies
reported a combined GDP of 1.5 trillion U.S. dollarsin 2004.
To date, investment between SCO members has surged to 15 billion U.S.
dollars, covering mainly oil and gas exploration, transportation,
telecommunication, electricity, chemical industry, construction material,
project contract and agriculture.
In a bid to promote trade and economic cooperation among SCO members, China
pledged in 2004 to offer 900 million U.S. dollars of preferential export buyer's
credit to other SCO members.
China had basically put the fund in place, said Chinese President Hu Jintao
at the end of May during a joint interview with media representatives from the
six SCO member states.
China reported 37 billion U.S. dollars of trade with other SCO members in
2005, up 212 percent over that of 2001, according to the Ministry of Commerce of
China.
The ministry said China's actual investment in the other five SCO members
totaled eight billion U.S. dollars last year, four times the 2001 figure.