LAHORE
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday assured Pakistan\u2019s full support in the fulfillment of the purposes and objectives of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), under his stewardship.
\nHe hoped that all SCO members would continue to work together for building peace, enhancing international solidarity and cooperation.
\nThe prime minister was talking to Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Ambassador Zhang Ming who called on him, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
\nThe prime minister also reaffirmed Pakistan\u2019s strong commitment to the principles of the SCO Charter and the \u201cShanghai Spirit.\u201d
\nHe highlighted the current global challenges manifested in the high fuel and food prices and the resultant food insecurity as well as economic and financial difficulties for a large number of countries including SCO members.
\nAppreciating the comprehensive development agenda of SCO, the prime minister emphasized that the core purpose of the Organization remained the growth and prosperity of the SCO region and how well the SCO leaders were responding to the aspirations and ambitions of their people to have better standards of living.
\nHe underlined Pakistan\u2019s priorities and national development goals as well as important areas of interest within the SCO framework of cooperation \u2014 including trade and economy; connectivity & transport; poverty alleviation; energy; agriculture and food security; climate change; security; information technology; digitalization; and cultural and people-to-people linkages.
\nThe prime minister underlined the need for developing appropriate funding mechanisms to promote intra-SCO trade as well as development initiatives.
\nStressing the enhancement of transport and communication links, the prime minister underscored the importance of the connectivity agenda and, in this regard, also highlighted that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could serve as a useful model in its facilitation.
\nThe prime minister also shared his perspective on a number of specific regional and global security issues as well as SCO\u2019s role in promoting stability in the region and beyond.
\nIn this context, he appreciated the work of SCO-RATS where Pakistan, together with other member states, was playing an active role in countering common security challenges.
\nThe SCO secretary general expressed his sincere gratitude to the government and leadership of Pakistan for arranging his visit before the upcoming SCO Council of Foreign Ministers and Heads of State meetings in Uzbekistan.
\nThe secretary general lauded Pakistan\u2019s constructive contributions to SCO\u2019s work and activities across all domains and thanked the prime minister for the guidance provided with regard to SCO\u2019s priorities and endeavours in the future.
\nHe also highlighted the invitation to the prime minister to attend the SCO summit in Samarkand in September 2022 to which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded that he was looking forward to participate in the summit.
\nThe prime minister also warmly felicitated the secretary-general on taking up his important assignment.
\nSCO is an 8-member trans-regional multilateral Organization, based on the \u201cShanghai Spirit\u201d which stands for mutual trust and respect, equality, respect for diverse civilizations, and pursuit of shared development.
\nIn the two decades, since its establishment, SCO has become a major international platform representing 41% of the world population with a 23% share in global GDP.
\nThe four-day visit of the SCO secretary general provided an important opportunity for consultations at the highest level and greater understanding of Pakistan\u2019s expectations from the Organization<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday assured Pakistan\u2019s full support in the fulfillment of the purposes and objectives of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), under his stewardship. He hoped that all SCO members would continue to work together for building peace, enhancing international solidarity and cooperation. The prime minister was talking to Secretary General […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9810,2534,5822,2961],"class_list":{"0":"post-273231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-charter","9":"tag-objectives","10":"tag-pm-shehbaz-sharif","11":"tag-sco"},"yoast_head":"\n