Russia proposes to create SCO development bank

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday put forward a proposal to establish the Development Bank within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
“The creation of mechanisms of financial provision of the organization’s projects is long overdue,” the minister said at a meeting of SCO foreign ministers. “Our financiers consider the scheme of the establishment of the SCO Development Bank on the basis of the successfully operating in the region Eurasian Development Bank as the most effective. We currently discuss this option with the colleagues,” Lavrov added.
He said the SCO implemented a number of initiatives in the sphere of the economy, in particular, launched the Energy Club, involving the SCO member states, the organization’s observers and dialogue partners, as well as held in May 2014 a panel discussion on the issue “SCO: a Space for Economic and Business Interaction.” The discussion was held within the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Among the “outstanding issues” the minister named the draft agreement on the creation of favorable conditions for international automobile transportation, the signing of which has been delayed due to proposals on new routes. Lavrov called for signing the document in Dushanbe.
It became known after the SCO Council of Ministers’ meeting that SCO was considering the creation of the Council for Regional Co-operation. It will be formed by the pattern of the organization’s Business Council and Interbank Association and will boost trade-economic interaction of regions of the SCO member states, SCO Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev said.