SCO to play central role in regional economic prosperity

Islamabad: The experts at a webinar said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is getting stronger to safeguard interests of the countries in the region. COVID-19 has played havoc with the world economy, especially the poor and developing economies have suffered a lot.

The pandemic has extreme effects on the SCO region as well. That is why the next SCO heads of states meeting would be crucial for coming up with the post-COVID-19 regional policy framework. Afghan peace process and its impact in the region is expected to be another top agenda besides resolving the pending conflicts between the countries of the region. Working out the regional cooperation for sustainable peace and economic prosperity, and cooperation in the health sector would be other priority tasks for discussions.

The webinar was organized by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) on Saturday on the SCO’s role in conflict management. The participants included geopolitical analyst from Beijing Zoon Ahmed Khan, senior journalist and political analyst from Washington Anwar Iqbal, Eurasian affairs expert Dr Fahim Akhtar, global security analyst Dr Ashfaq Ahmed and CGSS research fellow Anushka Johum. The webinar was hosted and conducted by Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed. Zooh Ahmed khan said SCO provides equal opportunity to all countries to represent their development agenda for regional cooperation as envisioned in the SCO charter and mandate. Though each one has the right to present their case, no one can play hegemonic. The respective committees sit together and discuss issues to resolve them.

She said the SCO’s goals are to strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology, and culture, as well as in education and energy.