Xinjiang seen as key to deepening SCO ties
China DailyVisitors check out silk products at the booth of Hotan, a city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, during the China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, Xinjiang, on Monday. LIU XIN/CHINA NEWS SERVICE Experts stress bigger role for the region in strengthening trade, cooperation With members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization further integrating the Belt and Road Initiative with regional cooperation programs and national development plans, establishing an SCO-themed pilot free trade zone in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region will greatly bolster trade activities and expand cooperative areas in Eurasia, experts said on Tuesday. Amid many countries' moves to ease downward economic pressure, the SCO, supported by its growing number of member states, observer states and dialogue partners, can play a vital role in creating trade corridors and logistical routes to facilitate trade in goods and services, said Fan Gang, vice-president of the Beijing-based China Society of Economic Reform. As all member states take economic development and improvement of people's livelihoods as the top priority, building pilot free trade zones in Xinjiang will generate favorable conditions for SCO members to facilitate business cooperation, especially in the areas of "infrastructure development, regional connectivity, cross-border e-commerce and investment activities", Fan said. Addressing a subforum during the ongoing seventh China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, Xinjiang's regional capital, Fan said even though it is not easy to build a free trade zone in a region with such a large population base, distinct differences in economic systems and geopolitical demands, it is tenable to start with a pilot zone in China and certain member countries, judging from the organization's current growth momentum.