SCO experts discuss region’s transit development potential

On December 1-2, 2014, the 8th SCO Special Task Force on Transit Potential Meeting was hosted in Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan.

During the meeting, the parties exchanged information on the development of transport infrastructure and transport systems, including the implementation of pilot projects in the development of international transport corridors and increasing the transport potential of the SCO member states. Participants in the meeting agreed to speed up the state procedures to follow through on the 2014 agreement between the SCO member states on creating favourable conditions for international motorway transit in the region, improving interstate transiting and increasing the transport potential of the countries and the volume of mutual trade.

The Russian delegation talked to meeting participants about the approaches to forming an SCO transport system including the use of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal-Amur Mainline, as well as about the work on drafting a programme for the coordinated development of roads in the SCO member states. The parties agreed to submit their proposals on the subject to the SCO Secretariat before February 15, 2015.

The meeting participants also discussed the implementation of the SCO project on the synchronised construction of roads along the following routes: Volgograd-Astrakhan-Atyrau-Beineu-Kungrad, and Aktau-Beineu-Kungrad as part of the E40 and forming the Europe-Western China International Transport Route through public-private partnerships.

The parties also agreed to hold another SCO Special Task Force on Transit Potential Meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2015.