Gilani leaves for home, says SCO must be strengthened       
DUSHANBE (Tajikistan), Nov 25 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza left here on Thursday after attending the 9th SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meeting hosted by Tajikistan.The Prime Minister was seen off at the Dushanbe airport by Tajik Prime Minister Okil Okilov and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Mardon. Pakistan’s Ambassador in Dushanbe Khalid Usman Kaisar and senior Embassy officials were also present on the occasion.Besides addressing the SCO moot, Prime Minister Gilani, who was accompanied by Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, also held bilateral meetings with the Tajik President and Prime Minister, the Russian Prime Minister, the Chinese Premier and the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
The Prime Minister in his brief interaction with Tajik and Pakistani media described the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a useful forum and said all the regional countries should strengthen this organization for increased trade and economic cooperation within the region and beyond.
He said he had the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with the SCO heads of government on the sidelines of the SCO moot, which remained very positive, with all the leaders having unanimity of views about the importance of peace and security as well as economic development of the region.