Third meeting of Prime Ministers of SCO members held in Bishkek

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged on September 23 closer cooperation among member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the fight against terrorism and economy.

Addressing the third meeting of SCO prime ministers in Bishkek, Wen stressed that terrorism, separatism and extremism constitute the major threat to the regional peace and stability and SCO member states should strengthen security cooperation at the multilateral and bilateral levels.

The urgent tasks facing the SCO are to work together to make the regional anti-terrorism institutions operate effectively, further exchange information and promote coordination among law enforcement departments, and establish mechanisms of liaison and contingency, Wen noted.

Since its establishment, Wen said, the SCO has made effective efforts to improve itself and promote regional cooperation and it has also played an important role in deepening the good-neighborlyand friendly cooperation among member states and maintaining regional peace and development.

Wen noted that the SCO summit held in June in Tashkent ushered in a new phase in the all-around cooperation among SCO members.

To enhance regional economic cooperation is another important task of the SCO, Wen said.

SCO member states should gradually deepen their economic cooperation, build closer economic ties, create favorable conditions for economic cooperation and earnestly implement multilateral cooperation programs, the Chinese premier said.

Wen also said SCO member states should boost exchanges between their peoples to promote mutual understanding and friendship.

Besides Wen, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanayev, Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Asdulo Gulomof and Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Utkur Sultanov attended the meeting.

The meeting was held to translate the consensus reached by heads of the member states in their Tashkent Summit in June into concrete actions.

The premiers issued a joint communique and adopted nine documents including a plan on measures to implement the compendium on multi-lateral economic and trade co-operation among SCO member states.

In a press conference held after the meeting, Wen said the SCO should focus on promoting regional economic co-operation in an all-round way after completing its initial stage of work in the past three years.

The plan covered such major areas as economy, science and technology and the humanistic co-operation between member states, touching upon over 100 specific projects and tasks.

The joint communique says the member states will commit themselves to gradually facilitate the free flow of commodities, capital, services and technology, promising to prepare legal documents and co-ordinate related legislation to that end.

The premiers pledged to promote their collaboration in oil and gas exploitation, construction of oil and gas pipelines, the oil chemical industry, and exploitation of hydro power and mineral resources. They also vowed to give priority to agriculture, the food industry, and high-technology co-operation in information and telecommunications.

Wen said at the press meeting that the oil pipeline between China and Kazakstan will begin operating later this month.

In his speech at the meeting, Wen said industrial committees should be established as soon as possible to promote direct contact among enterprises so that they become the driving forces of economic co-operation. He proposed to encourage local administrations, especially in border regions, to engage in economic co-operation and tap the potential of non-governmental economic co-operation.

Wen also suggested enhancing information exchange to promote commercial information flow and the transparency of economic legislation of member states.

The premiers Thursday jointly launched the website of SCO regional economic co-operation.

The website was initiated and solely invested in by China. It is the first information co-operation project of the organization which aims to offer member states trade and investment information and promote regional economic co-operative processes.

The premiers underscored the importance of working together in communication, co-ordinating trans-border transportation policy and establishing international transportation channels. They planned to complete the drafting of a multi-lateral agreement on the facilitation of international highway communication by the end of June next year.

The premiers also discussed environmental protection, maintenance of regional biological balance, rational utilization of water resources and the prevention of land desertification and other environmental deterioration.

They emphasized that the SCO is willing to establish connections with international economic forums and organizations to realize its goal.

The joint communique strongly condemned the latest terrorist activities in its member states, referring to the hostage-taking incident in the southern Russian town of Beslan earlier this month. It underlined the importance of enhancing co-operation in combating international terrorism and meeting new types of security challenges.

Wen reiterated in his speech that China firmly supports the efforts of the Russian Government to crack down on terrorism.

He said the organization should push for the overall effective functioning of the regional anti-terrorism agency, promote information exchange and co-ordinated actions by security law enforcement agencies and establish the liaison and contingency mechanism to deal with major incidents.

The premiers agreed that the next meeting of member state premiers will be held in Moscow in the second half of next year.

The SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Its member states cover an area of more than 30 million square km with a population of 1.46 billion. Its working languages are Chinese and Russian.

The SCO originated and grew from the Shanghai Five mechanism, also known as the "Shanghai Five," which was set up in 1996 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with the aim of strengthening confidence-building, carrying out disarmament in their border areas and promoting regional cooperation.

According to the SCO Charter and the Declaration on the Establishment of the SCO, the main purposes of the SCO are: strengthening mutual trust and good-neighborliness and friendship among member states; developing effective cooperation in politicalaffairs, economy, trade, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transportation, environmental protection and other fields; working together to maintain regional peace, security and stability; and promoting the creation of a new international political and economic order featuring democracy, justice and rationality.