National News

PM: Belarus supports expanding powers of SCO observer countries

Belarus supports the idea to expand the powers of observer countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Belarus' Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said during a videoconference meeting of the SCO Heads of Government Council on 30 November.

“Even in the difficult circumstances, we need to be optimistic about the future and take effective measures to expand cooperation primarily by means of improving the mechanisms of participation in the Shanghai Organization. Being a responsible and active member of the SCO, Belarus is prepared to actively join all mechanisms and projects. We support the work of the member countries on the new wording of the SCO Observer Status regulation which will expand the powers and level of involvement of the SCO observer countries and dialogue partners in the programs and processes of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Roman Golovchenko noted.

According to him, Belarus is prepared to share its experience on a wide range of issues with the SCO. This is the use of modern goods and cargo traceability systems, the IT sector, fight against viruses, etc.

The Belarusian head of government stressed the importance of preserving humanitarian ties in the difficult epidemiological conditions. In 2019, the SCO Secretariat presented the project "8 Wonders of the SCO." Roman Golovchenko also proposed to extend it to observers and dialogue partners. According to him, this will help to increase the tourist potential of the SCO states.

The prime minister also invited the SCO countries to take part in a forum on medicine to be hosted by the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone in 2021.