SCO Summit approves development bank, announces new security and economic initiatives
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday said member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) have approved the establishment of a Development Bank.
The decision came after a decade of discussions among members.
“The approval to set up the bank, a Chinese proposal, came after 10 years of deliberations among the member countries,” Wang said. He added that the bank would “increase the efficiency and social development of the region.”
However, he did not give a timeline for its launch.
Earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for speeding up the creation of the bank, citing the growing role of the 10-nation bloc. Xi said the SCO has become “the world’s largest regional organisation,” with 26 countries engaged in cooperation across more than 50 areas and a combined GDP of nearly USD 30 trillion.
He urged members to use their “mega-sized markets and economic complementarity” to boost trade and investment. Xi also promoted cooperation in areas including energy, infrastructure, digital economy, green industry, science, technology, and artificial intelligence.
Xi announced RMB 2 billion (USD 280 million) in funding and RMB 10 billion (USD 1.3 billion) in loans for SCO Interbank Consortium members over three years. He also pledged 100 “small and beautiful livelihood projects,” a doubling of SCO-specific scholarships, and an innovative PhD program. Over the next five years, China will set up 10 Luban Workshops in member states and offer 10,000 training opportunities.
He also said, “China is ready to build with all sides the artificial intelligence (AI) application cooperation centre, and share the dividends of progress in AI.”
Wang announced that Laos has been admitted as a new SCO partner. He also said observer states and dialogue partners would be merged into one category called SCO partners to improve efficiency. “The SCO will launch this important process, and there will be one more multilateral platform in the EuroAsian region. It is a good thing to celebrate not only for the member states but also for our region,” he said.
The summit also unveiled four new centres: a universal centre for countering security challenges, an information security centre, a centre against transnational crime, and an anti-drug centre. Wang described the summit under China’s presidency as “a milestone and highly successful,” highlighting advances in SCO security cooperation.
Additionally, three new cooperation centres will be created for China-SCO collaboration in energy, green industry, and the digital economy.
Founded in 2001, the SCO includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers, while 14 other countries are dialogue partners. “The SCO has an extended family of 27,” Wang said.
In another development, Pakistan and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic ties.
Xi also spoke about global challenges, urging members to “respect their differences, maintain strategic communication, build up consensus, and strengthen solidarity and collaboration.” He proposed a Global Governance Initiative (GGI) to complement earlier Chinese initiatives: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Cultural Initiative.
The SCO Plus summit, attended by 20 foreign leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was described as the largest in the organisation’s history.
