The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has taken active steps in its external and internal activities in the past year and scored "impressive progress", SCO Secretary-General Zhang Deguang said in Beijing Thursday.

Dubbed "a new model of regional cooperation", SCO is an intergovernmental international organization founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Last year, SCO stepped up security cooperation, Zhang said at a reception marking SCO Secretariat's first inauguration anniversary and presentation of its website "www.sectsco.org".

"We initiated the regional anti-terrorist structure, signed an agreement on cracking down on drug trafficking, and created a mechanism of meetings for secretaries of the national security councils of SCO member states," Zhang told an audience of more than 100 diplomats and representatives from SCO member states, some other countries and international organizations.

Zhang also elaborated on SCO's efforts to advance collaboration in economy and trade, saying "we ratified measures on the program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation among SCO member states."

"We also launched the website of regional trade and economic cooperation, started a process of consultations on establishing the development fund and business council, and signing a multilateral agreement on transportation," Zhang said.

SCO also developed its contacts and cooperation by presenting the SCO observer status to Mongolia and establishing contacts and relations with the United Nations, the ASEAN, the European Union as well as other international and regional organizations, according to Zhang.

He also confirmed that the introduction of any new member or observer is "not on the SCO's agenda."

Li Hui, assistant foreign minister of China, said SCO has entered a new stage of comprehensive development and faced with even more difficult tasks, pledging that "China will, as always, support the Secretariat and provide it with all necessary assistance."

Referring to the Secretariat as "an effective working body that puts into effect the SCO agreements", Zhanybek Karibzhanov, Kazakhstan ambassador to China, expressed his gratitude to China for the practical assistance and proper conditions it rendered to the Secretariat.

Source:Xinhua