FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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SCO Head Visiting Pakistan Explains Need for Road Infrastructure Links to Belt and Road

Feb. 8, 2018 (EIRNS)—Secretary-General Rashid Alimov of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in a visit to Pakistan, told Communications Minister Hafiz Abdul Karim that expansion of road infrastructure among the SCO countries would help bring economic and political stability and help improve the security of the regional countries, Business Recorder reported today.

Alimov told Karim:

“The Intergovernmental Agreement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States on the Facilitation of International Road Transport facilitates significant promotion of regional and sub-regional connectivity and integration, in particular revitalization of the ancient Silk Road.”

The agreement opens more than 15,000 km of the Asian highway routes for transport operation and services, with the longest route stretching more than 9,000 km from St. Petersburg to Lianyungang in China. “The Agreement will also develop landlocked Central Asia’s access to sea by road through China and Russian Federation,” said Business Recorder.