India hosts meeting of SCO Ministers handling economy and foreign trade

Shri Piyush Goyal calls upon the SCO countries to enhance trade and investment critical for ensuring speedy recovery from the aftermath of pandemic.

India today hosted the 19th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Ministers responsible for Foreign Economy and Foreign Trade Activities.

In his opening remarks, Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal said that the current crisis due to Covid-19 is a clarion call to the SCO countries to leverage the economic strength and explore partnerships that enhance trade and investment in the region.  He said that cooperation should be continued to enhance intra-SCO trade and investment which would be critical in ensuring the speedy recovery from the aftermath of the pandemic.  Shri Goyal said that every nation’s world view is shaped by its civilization and philosophical tradition.  India’s ancient wisdom sees the world as one family  -  Vasudeva Kutumbakam, he aadded.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Shri Hardeep Singh Puri also spoke on the occasion.   The virtual meeting was attended by the Secretary General of SCO and Ministers from,  Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan,  Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In the meeting four documents were adopted.  These were:-

1. Statement on the response to Covid-19.  It reinforces the need for greater cooperation for access to medicines and facilitation of trade.
2. Statement on the Multilateral Trading System of Ministers of SCO Countries who are WTO Members.  This statement highlights the importance of the rules based multilateral negotiations.
3. Statement on SCO Cooperation on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).  It relates to cooperation of intellectual property and include sharing information/experience on legislation and enforcement, cooperation in international organisations and other areas.
4. Action Plan for Implementation of MOU to stimulate cooperation within the framework of SCO in the field of MSMEs.  It looks at  number of areas of cooperation among MSMEs, including exchange of information, organisation of events and collaboration on research and capacity building.

In his concluding remarks, Shri Goyal emphasised that all these outcomes of the meeting are very important milestones for the SCO solidarity.

Multilateral trading system protections urged to support trade recovery and cooperation among SCO members post pandemic. India hosted the 19th SCO meeting of ministers for foreign economy and trade stressing enhanced intra regional trade and investment for post pandemic recovery. Four instruments were adopted: a Covid 19 response Statement on cooperation for access to medicines and trade facilitation; a Statement supporting a rules based Multilateral Trading System; a Statement on Intellectual Property Rights cooperation including legislative and enforcement information sharing; and an Action Plan to implement an MOU to stimulate MSME cooperation via information exchange, events, research and capacity building.