Turkey to assume Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Energy Club term presidency

Sevil Erkuş - ANKARA

AFP photo

Turkey will chair the Energy Club of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017, becoming the first non-SCO country to hold its term presidency, according to officials from the Energy Ministry. 

In a meeting on Nov. 22, a proposal from Ankara to pave the way for non-SCO member countries to assume the term presidency of the Energy Club was accepted, officials said.  

Earlier, the term presidency of the Energy Club had only been assumed by members of the SCO using the Russian Cyrillic script alphabet. 

The move comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested the possibility of SCO membership as an alternative to EU membership for Turkey.

Turkey is currently a “dialogue partner” of the SCO, and is a member of the SCO Energy Club along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Belarus and Sri Lanka.

The Energy Ministry will be the general secretary of the Energy Club for one year of time.

The Energy Club seeks to resolve issues as:

• Coordinating energy strategies and long-term programs for development of SCO member states, observers and their partners.

• Drafting and implementing collective energy security measures.

• Developing a system of transport energy communications.

• Developing a joint economic mechanism for implementing member states’ energy policies.

• Coordinating member states’ investment plans.

• Coordinating information.

• Mutually informing about activities on the global energy market.