Constructive co-operation coupled with trust and transparency is key to tap the trade potential of SCO Member States: Smt. Anupriya Patel

SCO members must prepare and pursue an agenda that is equitable, inclusive and development oriented: Smt. Anupriya Patel

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel said that constructive co-operation coupled with trust and transparency is key to tap the trade potential of SCO Member States. She was making an intervention at the 21st Meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Ministers responsible for Foreign Economy and Foreign Trade. The Minister mentioned the opportunities available in the SCO region for mutually beneficial, balanced and equitable gains for all SCO Members. She stressed on the need for effective cooperation between SCO Member States for a balanced and equitable growth in trade and commerce.

She underscored the importance of collective efforts to achieve balanced and equitable economic growth by way of making trade as an engine of reviving growth and driver of economic recovery.  She emphasised that trust and transparency determine the sustainability of global trade and preserving the fundamental principles and objectives of the multilateral trading system.

She stressed on the need to work towards enhancing affordable access to medicines, therapeutics, vaccines as well as health care at affordable prices for fighting any pandemic, such as Covid-19 to preserve the life, livelihood, food and nutritional security of the poorest.

To bring prosperity for the human kind, MOS emphasised the need to share the best practices on technological development, optimum utilization of resources, conservation of environment, sustainable distribution of resources so that present and future generation have adequate resource to live with, in a happy environment. On the issue of environment, MOS expressed that the climate agenda at world forum should not be used to introduce measures restricting trade and investment cooperation.

MoS also highlighted that there is a significant gap in digital technologies between developed and developing countries which needs to be narrowed down by building digital capacities.

She lauded the recent initiative of SCO, wherein City of Varanasi has been nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital for the period of 2022-2023. She expressed hope that this will help promote tourism and people-to-people interaction and boost trade and economic cooperation.

In her concluding remarks, MOS emphasized that SCO members must prepare, act and pursue an agenda that is equitable, inclusive and development oriented.

The virtual meeting was attended by the representative of SCO Secretariat and Heads of Delegations of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Constructive cooperation and transparency to unlock regional trade potential and pursue an equitable, development-oriented agenda. Constructive cooperation underpinned by trust and transparency is proposed as the principal means to unlock regional trade potential and sustain multilateral trade relations. The statement stresses mutually beneficial, balanced and equitable cooperation to make trade an engine of recovery, enhance affordable access to medicines and healthcare during pandemics, share technological and resource-conservation best practices, narrow digital capacity gaps, and avoid using climate agendas to justify trade or investment restrictions.