Opinions & Interviews

PM: Belarus ready to share best COVID-19 response practices with SCO

Roman Golovchenko

MINSK, 10 November (BelTA) – Belarus is ready to share its best practices for COVID-19 response with the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said at the the SCO summit held via a video link on 10 November, BelTA has learned.

“Belarus has chosen its own way in the fight against the pandemic. Our policy has proved efficient. We welcome the adoption of the SCO action plan to combat the epidemic. Belarus is ready to actively participate in the implementation of this document and share its best practices,” Roman Golovchenko said.

In his words, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed many problems in the political, social, economic and humanitarian areas. “In our opinion, no country has been able to demonstrate its full readiness for the new challenge. Moreover, some countries and international financial organizations have actively politicized the coronavirus, using it for immediate benefits and setting political conditions for assistance,” the Belarusian head of government said.

According to Roman Golovchenko, Belarus is ready to join the SCO food security action plan and contribute to its development. In his words, the quality of Belarusian food products is known in all the SCO countries.

The prime minister emphasized the importance of cooperation in transportation, and also of steps to increase the speed of delivering goods, including medical products to combat coronavirus. With this in mind, Belarus began using satellite navigation seals to eliminate unnecessary border formalities and speed up the movement of goods. Roman Golovchenko suggested studying and scaling up Belarus' experience in the SCO region.

According to him, Belarus pays special attention to participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This comes not only because of the significant role of the SCO in ensuring regional and global security but also due to the fact that Belarus' close friends are part of the SCO. “Everyone is ready to help in a difficult moment. The Russian Federation did so after Belarus faced attempts from outside to destabilize the situation in the country following the presidential election,” the prime minister said.

The SCO has eight member states (India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). Four states have observer status (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia). There are six dialogue partner countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey).

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