DUSHANBE (TASS) — The meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) began in Dushanbe. Representatives of the observer states of the SCO — Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia also take part in the meeting.

Opening the meeting, the Prime Minister of Tajikistan Kohir Rasulzoda proposed to discuss the economic and humanitarian aspects of cooperation of the SCO countries. “We need to concentrate on concrete measures in order to increase the efficiency of the SCO on the economic track”, he said. Among the promising areas for the development of interaction, Rasulzada called transport, telecommunications, agriculture, and tourism.

The meeting, which takes place in the Somon Palace in the centre of the Tajik capital, is attended by Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Svaraj, Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Muhammedkali Abylgaziyev, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmudres, The Prime Minister of Tajikistan Kohir Rasulzoda, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov.

Iranian foreign minister Zarif conferred on issues of mutual interest with the incoming secretary general of SCO, IRNA reports. Vladimir Norov is now director of the Institute for Strategic and Inter-regional Studies which is under the auspices of President of Uzbekistan who was appointed as secretary general of the SCO in Qingdao summit for the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021, replacing Rashid Alimov from Tajikistan.

During the meeting, Zarif and Norov discussed bilateral ties as well as the regional issues. They underlined improvement of the two countries’ relations in various fields of politics, economy, culture, research, transit and tourism. They discussed also fighting terrorism, in particular, Daesh (ISIS).

In the meantime, Norov expressed the hope that Iran and SCO cooperation is expanded during his tenure.