Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky is to join the official Russian delegation headed by President Vladimir Putin on 9–10 June on a visit to Qingdao (China), which will host a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
«The presidential decree on hosting the SCO and BRICs summits in Chelyabinsk in 2020 is a major event for the region. Preparations have been underway for two years, and we are now moving to the active phase — building an SCO legacy. Our vision of this is to build new landmark facilities in Chelyabinsk and to change the look of the city. In this regard it is crucial for us to learn about China’s and other countries’ experience in hosting such significant events,» Dubrovsky said.
The governor added that most of the venues and facilities for the summit have passed the design and planning stage, sources of funding have been identified, and several facilities have contractors in place, with work continuing apace. Investment in preparations for the SCO and BRICS summits will total around RUB 50 billion, with almost half the figure coming from the private sector.
The meetings of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be held in both narrow and expanded formats. Topics for discussion will include the SCO’s current activities and priority areas for its future development. In 2015 Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky put forward an initiative to hold a Governors’ Forum of SCO member state regions. This new format of international regional interaction was widely supported which was noted in the Astana declaration issued after the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on 9 June 2017: «The member states favour cooperation between regions and administrative and territorial entities. They welcome the initiative to establish a forum of SCO regional governors and recommend further efforts in this vein.»
Today saw the signing of Russian Presidential Decree No. 110, «On the organizing committee for the preparation and execution of the Russian Federation’s chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2019–2020 and the BRICS Association in 2020.» The document designates Chelyabinsk as the host city for the meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council and the BRICS Leaders’ Meeting in 2020.
The Roscongress Foundation was appointed the role of exclusive procurer of services on behalf of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation for the preparation and execution of Russia’s SCO and BRICS chairmanship. This will not be the first time Russia has hosted a joint summit. In 2015, SCO and BRICS summits were held in Ufa, and Yekaterinburg was also a host city in 2009.
For reference
China is one of the key strategic partners of the Chelyabinsk Region. According to the Federal Customs Service in the Ural Federal District, in 2017 the trade turnover between the Chelyabinsk Region and China was $509.2 million (168.2% to the corresponding period of 2016), including: export — $15.6 million (95.7%), import — $493.6 million (172.3%). The trade turnover with China in the first quarter of 2018 was $130.4 million (141% to the corresponding period of 2017), including: export — $4.7 million (94.7%), import — $125.7 million (143.1%).
In 2018 Chelyabinsk Region is to host two major events in cooperation with China:
On 12 July it will host the Conference on industrial and technological cooperation between the Chelyabinsk Region of the Russian Federation and the Heilongjiang province of the People’s Republic of China; on 18–19 September Chelyabinsk will host the 4th Russian—Chinese Business Forum for Small and Medium-sized Businesses.
