Mr. Zubair F. Tufail President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) congratulated the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for his successful visit to Astana, Kazakhstan and participation in Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit and obtaining its permanent membership. He further said that the permanent membership is another milestone of the Prime Minister which will strengthen deep-rooted historical and cultural links as well as strong economic and strategic relations with all the members’ countries of the SCO including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

He further added that Pakistan had been actively participating in the organization’s activities as an observer member since 2005 and that it fully subscribes to the “Shanghai Spirit”. While explaining the objectives of the Organization, he added that the SCO is functioning for strengthening mutual trust, friendship, encouraging effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transportation, ecology peace, security and stability among the countries.

He also thanked the China for supporting Pakistan’s entry in SCO and stated that the membership particularly in the backdrop of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is a flagship of one belt one road project will further enhance Pakistan’s importance in the entire region aimed at further enhancing the connectivity, regional stability, development, economic prosperity and trade among them.

He added that with the expansion of the group, the SCO will now represent over 40 percent of the humanity and nearly 20 percent of the global GDP. He further added that Pakistan is one of the larger energy consuming countries in the world is also likely to get greater access to major gas and oil exploration projects in Central Asia as many of the SCO countries have huge reserves of oil and natural gas.