Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization for Belarus is an important dialogue platform with traditional friends and key partners. This was stated in an interview with a BelTA correspondent by First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Aleinik on the eve of the SCO summit, which will be held on 15-16 September in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). 

“Belarus has a strategic nature of relations with Russia and China. Together with Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, it is a member of the EAEU, participates in the implementation of the Chinese initiative "One Belt, One Road". Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are our important trade and economic partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Relations with India and Pakistan are developing dynamically,” said the First Deputy Head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

“Belarus has been participating in the SCO since 2010: initially as a dialogue partner, since 2015 as an observer. Our country is systematically present in the political-diplomatic, trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian dimensions, it comes up with initiatives, - Sergey Aleinik said. - The famous French writer, philosopher and moralist of the 17th century, Jean de La Bruyère, once said: “Whoever walks slowly and slowly, no road is long; who patiently prepares for the journey, he will certainly come to the goal. During this time, we have accumulated sufficient experience in the organization.”

He noted that since 2016, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has been regularly present at meetings of the Council of Heads of States of the SCO and puts forward initiatives that find their support among the member countries. At various times, the Belarusian side made specific proposals to ensure food security within the framework of the SCO, create a specialized exposition "AgroSCO" at the international forum of farmers "Belagro", strengthen nuclear safety and the peaceful use of the atom. Our initiatives to link the development strategies of the countries of the organization, to develop cooperation in the field of healthcare, transport, renewable energy sources, the use of national currencies in trade and finance, and the fight against cyber threats received wide response.

The First Deputy Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that Belarus is interested in the development of the SCO common transport space, international road transport, the coordinated development of roads, rail transport, which will contribute to participation in multimodal transport, the formation of a favorable network of transport infrastructure and the disclosure of transit potential. Therefore, since November 11, 2018, Belarus has been a party to the agreement between the governments of the SCO member states on the creation of favorable conditions for international road transport.

“With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was one of the first to disseminate information about vaccines being produced, which made it possible to quickly navigate in that difficult situation. The Chinese Committee for Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO provided Belarus with several thousand PCR tests and necessary reagents free of charge,” said Sergei Aleinik.