DUSHANBE, August 20, Asia-Plus — An initiative to set up the Energy Club within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is the necessary and right step, Shodi Shabdolov, the deputy of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) also leader of the Communist Party (CPT), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.  

“Setting up the energy club is not policy but economic necessity,” Tajik Communists leader said, noting this body would help tackle many regional energy-related problems. 

As an example, he termed  disagreements between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on implementation of a number of hydroelectricity projects in Tajikistan. 

“We have a basis for setting up such a club but there is no yet legal foundation,” said Shabdolov, “The first step towards the establishment of the Energy Club should be laying legal foundation.”  According to him, it would be better to name this body “Unified Energy Market.”  

“The unified energy market should work like  system as it was in the Soviet time or as it now is in Europe, and all its decisions should be realized in practice,” Tajik MP said.  

We will recall that the SCO leaders agreed at an August 16 summit in the Kyrgyz capital to create a "unified energy market" that would bring energy resources from member countries rich in oil and natural gas to those that need such resources to promote their development. It also provides for exporting gas and oil to world markets.  The declaration adopted at the summit stressed the importance of energy resources as "the basis for continued economic growth and security."

As it had been reported earlier, the inception of the SCO Energy Club was one of the key topics of the fifth meeting of the Heads of Government Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that was held in Dushanbe on September 15, 2006.  SCO prime ministers made decisions on implementing the initiative voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in June 2006, where he proposed to set up an SCO Energy Club, a mechanism that would unite energy producers, consumers and transit countries. The heads of government instructed a special working group to study the prospects of establishing the Energy Club as soon as possible.