Have you ever entered your hotel room accompanied by a machine gunner and three or four other guards? I think it is unlikely, unless, of course, you are in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, where a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is being held these days. .
The association includes 10 countries: Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan, which chairs the SCO this year (it joined the organization in 2017), is hosting such a large-scale international event for the first time, so unprecedented security measures have been taken. The entire city in the event area has been cleared, even the most important intersections have been blocked and there are checkpoints everywhere. There are armed guards not only at the entrance to the hotels where the participants and journalists who attended the meeting live, but also on the ground: a mouse will not pass. Armed and camouflaged people literally follow your every move and, strangely, this calms you down even more. As soon as the Komsomolskaya Pravda journalist, accompanied by a colleague, walked 200 meters from the hotel, a police officer immediately approached us and cordially explained that it was better to go to the hotel, but if we needed something on the street, he provided us with a female escort. It doesn’t seem to be customary for women to walk alone here, so we don’t argue.
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The head of the Russian delegation, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, arrived in Islamabad late Tuesday afternoon and held a trilateral meeting early Wednesday morning with colleagues from China and Mongolia (the latter is an observer country in the OCS).
“Strengthening friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation with the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia, our close neighbors and strategic partners, is one of our priorities in the state’s foreign policy,” Mishustin addressed his colleagues.
The Prime Minister noted that a new multipolar architecture is now taking shape and the importance of effective regional cooperation is increasing. One of its examples is the trilateral relationship between Russia, China and Mongolia.
Mikhail Mishustin, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang and Prime Minister of Mongolia Luvsannamsrain Oyuun-Erdene (from left to right). Photo: Roman Naumov/POOL/TASS
“Uniting trilateral cooperation with the development of the Eurasian Economic Union, with the implementation of the Chinese project “One Belt, One Road” and the Mongolian concept of “The Steppe Road” meets our common interests,” Mishustin said, pointing out that it is important to link the implementation of these ideas with the construction of a great Eurasian partnership.
Later, Mishustin spoke face to face with his colleagues from China and Mongolia, discussing bilateral cooperation between the countries.
– Despite unprecedented external pressure, Russia and China are strengthening economic cooperation, we are increasing the volume of mutual trade and launching joint investment projects. The association in the energy sector has acquired a comprehensive strategic character; It covers the oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy industries,” Mishustin said in a meeting with Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang.
The prime ministers, who arrived at the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, were received by Pakistan’s Cabinet Chief Shehbaz Sharif before the start of the event. He shook hands with the guests, patted them on the back in greeting, and took photos together. The inscriptions on the stands at SCO 2024, as if explaining what was happening, said: “together we fight for prosperity, security and peace.”
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before the start of a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the member states of the Shanghai Organization. Photo: Alexander Miridonov/POOL/TASS
The OCS is one of the largest regional associations. The total space occupied by the SCO countries is approximately 23% of the total land mass of the planet, and the population together reaches 45% of the world total. SCO countries account for about 30% of world GDP.
Mishustin, speaking at the meeting, firstly thanked Pakistan “for the warm welcome and excellent organization of the event.” It was clear that the Pakistanis really did their best.
– We are actively strengthening interaction with friendly states that share our values. At the end of last year, the volume of trade between Russia and the SCO member countries approached a record 30 trillion rubles. And in the first half of this year it increased by 5.5%, said the Prime Minister.
Among the priorities of cooperation in the SCO space, Mishustin mentioned the development of a road network and new logistics routes in the Eurasian space, the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere and the expansion of the use of clean energy sources and renewable. In the financial sector, the Prime Minister called for increasing the participation of national currencies in mutual agreements and developing an independent payment and settlement mechanism for the SCO.
After Pakistan, Russia will become the SCO president.
