The establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has closely linked the economies of its member states and has brought tangible benefits to the people of those states, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said at an SCO forum Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks at the Business Forum of the SCO, which was held on Wednesday.

"Since the SCO was established 11 years ago, it has played a great role in regional pragmatic cooperation," said Wang.

In 2011, the trade volume between China and other member states rose to 100 billion U.S. dollars, marking a nine-fold increase from that of 2001. China has invested more than 20 billion U.S. dollars in other member states since the organization was established, Wang said.

The organization has also promoted the completion of some large scale projects, including cross-border oil and gas pipelines, roads, railways and telecommunication services, Wang noted.

Wang spoke highly of some progress that the SCO has made in the fields of energy, mining, manufacturing, trade, logistics and agriculture, as well as finance.

Wang also stressed that with the development of globalization, further strengthening regional economic cooperation among SCO members could enrich and fulfill the purpose of the SCO, as well as contribute to the development of member states' economies, improvement in people's living standards and member states' abilities to jointly cope with various challenges.

Wang expressed his willingness to search for new cooperation opportunities in regional economic fields among the members.

The SCO Business Forum is one of the activities of the 12th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the SCO.

More than 700 representatives from member states, observer states and various industries attended the forum Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, Wang met with Uzbek First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Rustam Azimov, Kyrgyz First Deputy Premier Karashev Aale and Umirzak Shukeyev, Chairman of the Board of Sovereign Wealth Fund (Samuruk-Kazyna) of Kazakhstan.

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