2021 is a special year for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This year the Organization celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding. In June,it celebrates the 15th anniversary of its member non-governmental structure uniting the most authoritative representatives of the business communities of the participating countries – the SCO Business Council (SCO BC). In this regard, the Executive Secretary of the SCO Business Council Sergei Kanavsky, in an interview with InfoSCO, spoke about the upcoming anniversary events and some key areas of development of the SCO BC in the near future.

He noted that with the transfer of the chairmanship in the SCO to Tajikistan, Jamshed Jumakhonzoda became the Chairman of the national part of the SCO Business Council, and the Tajik side has already begun active work on preparing events related to the anniversary of the SCO. “We will definitely hold the Business Forum of the SCO Business Council, as well as a meeting of the Board of the DC in the Republic of Tajikistan, which will sum up the results of our activities and outline directions for further development,” Kanavsky said.

He also drew attention to the intensification of the work of the United Center for Business Cooperation, created under the BC Secretariat, to promote direct contacts between entrepreneurs of the SCO countries. The activities of this center are aimed at creating a common information platform and innovation funds, as well as exchanging information on promising multilateral and bilateral investment projects. For example, he hosted the first extended Shanghe Business Connect meeting on January 16 in China.

Sergey Kanavsky also stressed that the Business Council plans to continue actively discussing its plans related to deepening all-round economic cooperation in the SCO space, within the framework of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in 2021.

“For the Business Council, the opportunity to contribute to the newly adopted amendments to the SCO Development Strategy until 2025 is of great importance. Now we are working in this direction and have already formed a special Action Plan of the SCO BC to support activities related, inter alia, to the development of the Strategy and the new Plan of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation”, he said.

Kanavsky noted the relevance of the development of projects related to the digitalization of economic processes. In particular, the use of cloud technologies in business. This, in his opinion, is one of the most promising areas of activity for the BC participants.

The Business Council also focuses on supporting youth movements and entrepreneurs. “In this regard, we strive to effectively facilitate the implementation of many diverse and interesting initiatives that are represented by the Indian, Kazakh, Russian and Uzbek nationalities,” he added.

An important aspect of the Council’s activities is the promotion of regional cooperation. “We are using all our tools to enhance cooperation between regions in different areas, such as tourism, health, energy and infrastructure projects”.

In conclusion, Kanavsky noted that the anniversary year of the SCO will be active and eventful, and the SCO BC will continue to promote the expansion of economic interaction, the establishment of direct ties and dialogue between the business and financial circles of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.