18 June 2004 16:26
Putin refuses to be drawn on matching China`s export credit for Shanghai group
The security measures imposed in Tashkent in connection with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization [SCO] summit
surprised even Russian special services. The entire city centre has been literally "cleared out": Stores and
cafes are shut, and the metro is not working. It is not just Al-Qa'idah that people here are afraid of. As an Uzbek
police officer told Nezavisimaya Gazeta on condition that he remained totally anonymous, the authorities are also afraid
of action by the inhabitants of their own country who are displeased with the policy of President Islom [Islam] Karimov.
[Passage omitted on security measures and aspects of summit already covered]
Just before meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Putin met with journalists at the Intercontinental [hotel,
where the summit took place]. "Are we going to give economic aid to SCO members in one form or another, as China is
doing?" your Nezavisimaya Gazeta correspondent asked. "Russia has always given economic support to CIS
countries, including SCO members," the president replied, "by supplying energy sources at concessionary
prices, for example." Furthermore, it has supplied them on credit. As for offering preferential export credit,
"that is a matter of economic policy", Putin said, adding that "the government has this option".
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] |
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