AKIPRESS.COM - Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Rashid Alimov has called on the Central Asian states to coordinate efforts aimed at cooperating to ensure joint sustainable development, TASS reports.

He addressed an international conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan’s third largest city, "Central Asia: One Past and a Common Future, Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Mutual Prosperity." The conference is held at the initiative of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and involves representatives of Central Asia’s states and international organizations.

"Today, the SCO region of responsibility, which now includes India and Pakistan, is a quarter of the globe’s entire land surface and almost half of the planet’s population," he said, noting that major economic initiatives are being implemented and new unique opportunities for investors and businesses open up in the region.

"The Central Asian states play an important and sometimes key role in these processes," Alimov stressed.

According to the SCO chief, geographical proximity, good neighborly relations, economic interdependency of the organization’s member-states contribute to the implementation of promising projects on developing infrastructure, transport and communications.