On April 26, 2023, the 19th meeting of the Council of the SCO Interbank Association (IBO) was held in Goa (India) under the chairmanship of the Indian Infrastructure Finance Company.
The event was attended by the heads of eight IBO member banks. The parties discussed the current course and prospects of cooperation between the leading development institutions and the backbone banks of the SCO member states.
SCO Deputy Secretary General Nuran Niyazaliyev addressed the participants of the meeting with a welcoming speech, noting the need for further development of the SCO IBO potential with an emphasis on the implementation of joint projects in priority sectors of the economy. He called on the meeting participants to actively search for optimal financing mechanisms for project activities within the SCO, to involve a wider range of commercial banks and financial institutions from Member States, observer states and dialogue partners of the Organization in the work of the IBO.
During the meeting, the members of the IBO Council spoke in favor of taking coordinated measures aimed at improving and diversifying trade and investment cooperation, expanding the practice of using national currencies in mutual settlements, promoting digital transformation and the introduction of ESG principles (“ecology, social policy and corporate governance”) in the SCO space.
Following the results of the event, the Head of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan JSC was elected Chairman of the IBO Council for the period 2023-2024.
The SCO IBO was established in 2005 in order to organize a mechanism for financing and banking services for investment projects supported by the governments of the SCO member states. The SCO IBO member banks are Indian Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), Development Bank of Kazakhstan JSC, State Development Bank of China, JSC RSK Bank (Kyrgyzstan), Habib Bank Limited (Pakistan), State Development Corporation VEB.RF (Russia), State Unitary Enterprise “Savings Bank of the Republic of Tajikistan “Amonatbonk”, JSC “National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. The partner banks of the SCO IBO are the Eurasian Development Bank, Belarusbank Savings Bank, Mongolia Development Bank. The supreme body of the Association is the Council of the SCO IBO.
Source: rus.sectsco.org