17 June 2004 16:18
Russian president welcomes Chinese loan to boost Shanghai members` trade
Tashkent, 17 June: Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed Chinese President Hu Jintao's initiative to
earmark soft trade loans of 900m dollars to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states.
"China has taken a serious step towards boosting economic cooperation between the SCO member states, which have
common economic problems, common interests and common borders," Putin said at a news conference, following the SCO
summit in Tashkent today.
He emphasized that the Chinese leader "has given us a fine example by deciding to earmark almost 1bn dollars to
boost trade relations between our countries."
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev called China's soft loans to the SCO countries "a powerful impetus to boost
economic cooperation in the region".
[Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency] |
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