DUSHANBE, August 19, 2008, Asia-Plus -- Sessions of the board of the Business Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the council of the SCO Interbank Association will be held in Tajikistan ahead of the Dushanbe summit of the SCO, according to Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).  

The SCO Business Council’s board will meet in Dushanbe on August 26.  The meeting aims to consider issues related to energy and food security, development of tourism and relevant industries, as well as problems facing the agrarian sector, the source at a CCI said.  

In the meantime, according to Tajikistan’s savings bank Amonatbonk, the session of the council of the SCO Interbank Association will be held in Khujand, the capital of the Sughd province from August 24-27.  The meeting is expected to consider further expansion of cooperation between the financial institutions of the SCO member nations.  

We will recall that a framework agreement to enhance economic cooperation within the SCO area was signed on September 23, 2003.  At the same meeting, the Chinese premier proposed a long-term objective to establish a  free trade area in the SCO, while other more immediate measures would be taken to improve the flow of goods in the region.  A follow up plan with 100 specific actions was signed on September 23, 2004.

The Moscow summit of the SCO on October 26, 2006 agreed upon the creation of an Interbank SCO Council in order to fund future joint projects.  The first meeting of the SCO Interbank Association was held in Beijing on February 21-22, 2006.  On November 30, 2006, at The SCO: Results and Perspectives, an international conference held in Almaty, Kazakhstan the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia is developing plans for an SCO "Energy Club".  The need for this "club" was reiterated by Moscow at an SCO summit in November 2007.  

The SCO Business Council was set up in Shanghai, China o­n June 14 2006 with the aim to promote further expansion of cooperation between the SCO member nations in trade and economic, financial, scientific-technical, energy, transportation, communication, agricultural and other spheres. It is intended to serve as an instrument of building direct ties and dialogue between the business and financial circles of the SCO member states, involving them in multi-faceted business cooperation in economic and investment spheres.