Dar urges greater SCO engagement, cooperation

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday urged member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to accelerate economic cooperation, expand engagement with partner countries, and modernize the organisation to meet emerging global and regional challenges.

Dar, who also serves as the country's foreign minister, made these remarks during his address at the 24th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) held in Moscow, according to an official statement issued by the DPM office.

The deputy PM said the joint communique and documents adopted at the summit would go a long way in guiding collective efforts toward regional prosperity.

He emphasized that the SCO's agenda, spanning trade, economy, culture, and humanitarian cooperation, forms the foundation of a "mature, future-oriented" organisation.

Highlighting the outcomes of the recent Tianjin summit, the foreign minister noted that the SCO is shifting towards deeper economic integration.

He pointed to expanded trade collaboration, improved infrastructure connectivity, investment partnerships, and the promotion of digital economies as key pillars for sustainable growth across the SCO region. He also underscored the SCO's potential to enhance humanitarian cooperation and disaster response.

He shared that Pakistan has developed a "technology-driven, proactive" disaster management system and expressed Pakistan's willingness to conduct simulation exercises with member states to strengthen regional preparedness.

Calling for stronger engagement with SCO observer and partner states, Ishaq Dar urged the organisation to move beyond "passive observation" and bring these countries into project-based initiatives aligned with their expertise.

He also welcomed the introduction of English as a working language and proposed the establishment of translation units to broaden the SCO's global outreach.

The deputy PM outlined several proposals for practical cooperation, including activating financial tools such as the SCO Interbank Consortium and advancing plans for an SCO Development Bank to support connectivity and technical collaboration projects.

Stressing the importance of human capital development, Ishaq Dar advocated an expansion of the SCO University Network into a consortium focused on applied knowledge.

He said such an initiative would promote student exchanges and joint research in critical fields including information technology, artificial intelligence, agriculture, water resource management, and telemedicine.

Reaffirming Pakistan's commitment to strengthening regional ties, Dar called for an SCO that serves as a "launch pad for shared success," fostering greater innovation, interconnectedness, and integration among its member states.

Ishaq Dar on Tuesday also met Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting here and reaffirmed the "all-weather" Pakistan-China strategic partnership, reviewed bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

During the interaction both sides reviewed bilateral cooperation especially within the SCO and praised the Shanghai Spirit principles guiding regional collaboration.

They also exchanged views on global issues and agreed to maintain real-time engagement moving forward. Dar also called on President Vladimir Putin along with other Heads of Government Delegations of SCO Member States.

President Putin welcomed the leaders and emphasized the importance of strengthening regional economic cooperation under the SCO, highlighting its role as a key platform for connectivity, stability, and mutually beneficial development across the region, a DPM's Office news release said.