Feng Zhenglin, the Vice-Minister of China's Ministry of Communications, has urged states belonging to the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) to increase investment in highway infrastructure and to speed up construction of three major highways linking China with Russia, Central Asia and Europe.

The investment call came at the fifth annual Shanghai Co-operation Organisation's heads-of-state summit, which opened in Shanghai on June 15 to review the organisation's progress since its establishment in 2001. The SCO was originally founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to mainly focus on security and confidence-building matters, but has since widened its scope to include economic matters, including transportation issues.

China's leaders have been emphasising the importance of overland transportation links between itself and its neighbours, as Beijing believes that creating a regional highway network will bolster economic growth among members of the six-nation regional forum, according to Xinhua News Agency.

China is said to have invested a great deal of time and effort into the planning and construction of its portions of 12 highways that will run from the Western China cities of Urumqi and Kashi to the five other nations in the group. These motorways will pass through customs checkpoints in Xinjiang province, including Huoerguosi, Yierkeshitan and Kalasu.
In addition, construction is expected to start shortly in China on five other planned highways, which have a total distance of 5,200 kilometres, the Vice-Minister revealed.

Source: Hong Kong Shipping Gazette.

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