Astana suggests creating SCO Cities Mayors' Council

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Astana mayor Asset Issekeshev has suggested creating the Capital Cities Mayors' Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Kazinform reports.

"We put forward an initiative to create the SCO Capital Cities Mayors' Council - between Russia, China, India, and Central Asian countries. Its mission will be to expand cooperation in the sphere of trade, technologies exchange, urban development, energy effectiveness, renewable energy sources, smart technologies, public transport and e-commerce development and many more," mayor Issekeshev said at the 15th session of the International Assembly of Capital and Major Cities of the CIS in Astana on July 13.

According to him, the SCO Mayors' Council should become a fully functioning platform and definitely not a forum that convenes once a year.
The session of the International Assembly of Capital and Major Cities of the CIS brought together nearly 100 delegates from 28 cities of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Italy and China in the Kazakh capital.

The Assembly includes 87 cities from 9 CIS member states, including 10 cities of Kazakhstan.