BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 2. The total trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states increased by 22 percent and amounted to $51 billion at the end of 2021, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov said during the meeting of the Heads of State Council of SCO member states held via videoconference, Trend reports citing the Kazakh government.
According to him, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, a fairly high development dynamic remains in SCO space. Thus, according to the results of last year, the economic growth rates of the SCO member states varied in the range of 4 to 9 percent and the total trade turnover between Kazakhstan and SCO member states increased by 22 percent an amounted to $51 billion.
At the same time, Smailov noted that it's important to involve banks and development institutions of the member states in financing trade deals and export operations within the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Interbank Consortium (SCO IBC) in order to further stimulate mutual trade. Moreover, the need to attract investments and high technologies was noted.
"In this regard Kazakhstan calls for a systematic approach to the practical implementation of the concept of creating SCO Technology Parks and Innovation Clusters. Kazakhstan also proposes to create Association of Investor of SCO member states, which could unite large investment funds. The priority in its work would be an exchange of business information and best practices, formation of multilateral projects in key sectors of economy," he said.