China’s trade turnover with SCO member countries has grown more than 10 times over the last 13 years and has reached $130 billion

XIAN (China), September 16. /TASS/. China is ready together with member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to implement the agreements reached in trade and economy," China’s Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng said on Wednesday. "We are ready to develop cooperation on the basis of equality," he noted.

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China’s trade turnover with SCO member countries has grown more than 10 times over the last 13 years and has reached $130 billion, Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming said on Wednesday. "In 2001, China’s trade turnover with SCO countries stood at $1.2 billion. In 2014, it grew to $130 billion, by more than 10 times," Qian said. China actively imports a wide range of goods from SCO member countries, he continued. "We import gas from Central Asia, Russian wood is used for manufacturing furniture, wheat from Kazakhstan is served at a Chinese table, cotton from Uzbekistan is used for manufacturing Chinese clothes, Tajikistan’s fruits are very popular on the Chinese market," he noted. The vice minister added that cooperation is also developing in such spheres as automotive industry, construction of power plants and supply of production equipment and computers. "Close economic ties facilitate the prosperity of our countries," Qian stressed. He states that China’s investment in SCO countries currently exceeds $70 billion while SCO countries’ investment in China has surpassed $1 billion.

China offers SCO countries to build up to 4,000 kilometers of railways The Chinese official also noted that Beijing expects to construct around 4,000 kilometers of railways and around 10,000 kilometers of motoring highways together with the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the coming 5 years. He noted that this task could be undertaken within the framework of infrastructure development. "The parties agreed to accelerate the implementation of existing cooperation projects and start building regional logistics centers," he said. However, a source in the Russian SCO delegation told TASS that this initiative has not yet been discussed with the member countries of the SCO. "This is a Chinese initiative. It wasn’t included in our discussion program today," a source close to the negotiations said.