SCO head urges Caspian countries to cooperate in transport infrastructure development

BEIJING. KAZINFORM The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and 'Caspian Five' countries (Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) need to intensify cooperation in the sphere of transport infrastructure construction, particularly railways, SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov said on the sidelines of the first Caspian Economic Forum, cited by the SCO website, TASS reports.

«SCO members and countries of the Caspian Basinneed to solve a range of existing issues in such environment in order to boostrailway traffic,» he added. «First of all, construction of theUzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China railway should be accelerated,» Norov said.«This railway can become an important link in the SCO transportation chainover time,» he noted.

«It is important to engage Afghanistan in theprocess of forming regional transport arteries,» he continued. «Thiswill serve as one more factor for stabilization of the situation in thiscountry,» Norov noted.

«Joint efforts should be concurrentlyfocused on development of the infrastructure of logistical centers connectingdifferent kinds of transport, upgrade of existing networks and transportationassets, and acceleration of processes of harmonization and unification oftransport standards and phytosanitary rules,» the official said