Premier Li Keqiang attends the 16th meeting of the Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) in Sochi, Russia, Dec 1, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

In the face of an improving world economic and global trade, Li proposed that the SCO members should further promote trade liberalization and facilitation.

China "proposes to accelerate consultations on signing a SCO agreement on trade facilitation, conduct a feasibility study of the SCO Free Trade Area in due course, and gradually establish institutional arrangements for regional economic cooperation," Li said.

The premier called on the SCO members to support cross-border e-commerce development and strengthen service trade among themselves.

Meanwhile, Li called for better and faster strategic alignments among the SCO members, saying China is willing to jointly handle challenges and promote regional stability and prosperity with other countries.

From theory and planning to practical implementations, cooperation in strategic alignments between China and other SCO members has come to a new stage, Li said.

Development is regarded as an effective way to settle regional conflicts and instability, Li said, adding that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is a platform for practical cooperation instead of a geopolitical tool.

Besides, Li called for joint efforts to accelerate the process of regional connectivity by promoting integration in planning and technical standard systems to raise efficiency in transportation industry.

He urged the members to advance regional infrastructure construction in such fields as transportation, energy, information and communication networks.