ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to deepen regional connectivity and warned against the use of confrontational geopolitics as a policy, the Pakistani foreign office said on Saturday, following Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Kyrgyzstan to attend the two-day regional summit.
Founded in 2001, the SCO is a major trans-regional organization spanning South and Central Asia, with China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan as its permanent members. SCO members collectively represent nearly half of the world’s population and a quarter of global economic output.
The organization’s agenda of promoting peace and stability, and seeking enhanced linkages in infrastructure, economic, trade and cultural spheres, is aligned with Pakistan’s own vision of enhancing economic connectivity as well as peace and stability in the region.
Leading Pakistan’s delegation at the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting on July 23-24, the foreign minister delivered his country’s national statement, reiterating unwavering commitment to the SCO charter that stands for mutual trust, shared prosperity and development.
“He warned against confrontational geopolitics and the use of aggression as an instrument of policy,” the Pakistani foreign office said, adding that the minister highlighted Pakistan’s efforts that led to an interim peace deal between the US and Iran last month.
“He underscored the importance of enhancing connectivity, transport links, poverty alleviation, as well as practical cooperation among the SCO Member States to achieve the Organization’s objectives.”
Pakistan, which will assume the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) in September, all SCO member states to Pakistan for the CHS Summit next year.
On the sidelines of the summit, Dar exchanged in-depth views on bilateral relations and the regional situation with the foreign ministers of Kyrgyzstan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
“The formal meetings and informal interactions with the Heads of Delegation of the SCO Member States were useful in highlighting Pakistan’s priorities for making SCO mechanisms more effective in advancing shared regional prosperity and economic goals,” the foreign office said.
