SHANGHAI -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members issued a joint communique here Thursday, saying that they will enhance cooperation on world stage.
"The SCO will try to expand cooperation among member states in the international arena in various forms and by various means," the communique says, which was issued at the end of the SCO summit.
Founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, the SCO comprises China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Presidents of the six member states attended Thursday's summit.
Presidents and representatives of Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India, which are the observer states of the organization, also attended the meeting.
The communique says the organization will hold regular consultations with observers and international organizations concerned. "This is fully applicable to the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group which is already functioning."
According to the communique, the heads of state pointed out with satisfaction that the initiative endorsed by the Council of Heads of State in Tashkent 2004 on establishing cooperative relations among international organizations in the Asia Pacific was warmly and widely received.
They welcomed the signing of cooperation documents between the SCO and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Community (EURASEC), according to the communique.
"They reiterated that the SCO is ready to forge similar ties with other international organizations and financial institutions on the basis of equality and mutual respect," the communique says.
"The SCO Secretariat should, together with the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-terrorist Structure, closely follow the implementation of cooperation documents signed between the SCO and other organizations and energetically promote concrete cooperation with the observers," it says.
The heads of state also entrusted the Council of National Coordinators to make recommendations on the procedure of SCO membership enlargement, the communique says, adding that this procedure should fully conform to the purposes and goals set forth in the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ensure the effectiveness of all treaties that form the legal basis of the SCO, help strengthen its unity and guarantee the applicability of the principle of consensus to consultations on all matters and at all levels of the SCO.
According to the communique, the next meeting of the Council of Heads of State will be held in Bishkek in 2007. Kyrgyzstan will assume SCO presidency next year.
