The 22nd Meeting of Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states responsible for foreign economic and foreign trade activities (Trade Ministers) was held under the chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Republic on September 27, 2023 in Bishkek, Kyrgyztan.
The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai.The goals of the SCO are to strengthen mutual trust, friendship and good-neighborliness between the Member States & to encourage the effective cooperation between the Member States in such spheres as politics, trade, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc.
Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, participated virtually in this event. The SCO Ministers shared their perspectives on the subject ‘The prospects and measures to deepen trade and economic cooperation among SCO Member States’.
Patel congratulated the Kyrgyz Republic for its Presidency and welcomed Iran as a new Member state. She stressed about harnessing the opportunities available to the region for mutually beneficial, balanced and equitable growth and emphasized that with the SCO region accounting for 40% of the global population and 30% of the world’s economy, there is significant potential for increasing trade within the SCO region.
She emphasized the importance of leveraging the SCO platform for pursuing an agenda that is inclusive and development oriented to build a strong, resilient, and reformed trading system that lays the foundation for our shared aspirations. She expressed her gratitude to the Member states for their support in the creation of a Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation to be permanently chaired by India. She also appreciated their support for the creation of an Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine.
She extended a warm invitation to the SCO member states to participate in the 1st meeting of the Expert Working Group on Traditional Medicine, scheduled to be held at the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat in November 2023, a facility established by the World Health Organization.