SCO Summit: Shehbaz Sharif & global leaders sign outcome document

All heads of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, signed the outcome document after the SCO summit in Astana today (Thursday, July 4).

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with world leaders on the fringes of the SCO summit, such as UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, and Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus. Discussions about mutually beneficial issues and bilateral ties were held.

Addressing the Summit in Astana, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan is committed to working together with other member states to strengthen SCO as an active and integrated regional forum to achieve common objectives of peace and prosperity. He said the SCO, with its enormous human, and socio-economic potential, represents a promising future. It is our responsibility as leaders to rise above partisan geopolitics and join hands to secure a peaceful and prosperous future for our people.

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The Premier stated that it is time to implement the many times that it has been stated that the SCO area should be made more connected through dependable supply chains and effective transportation routes. He emphasized that Pakistan’s geographic position makes it the perfect trading hub for the whole region. The main component of the Belt and Road program, CPEC, enhances SCO’s goals for regional connectivity and trade.

Additionally, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif underlined the need to encourage the SCO area to settle disputes amongst members in their currencies as doing so can help prevent global financial disruptions. According to him, Pakistan is in favor of the idea of establishing an alternative development finance mechanism inside the SCO to revitalize several development projects that have hit a standstill.

Shehbaz Sharif praised the SCO agreement on environmental preservation and stated that Pakistan is still dedicated to promoting a sustainable and environmentally friendly global community. He emphasized how important stability and peace are to Afghanistan. To assist the interim Afghan government with its legitimate requirements for economic development, he added that the international community needed to become involved in meaningful ways.  He warned that to prevent any organization from using its territory for terrorism against other states, the interim Afghan government had to take decisive action.