Prime ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members said in a joint communique on Wednesday that progress has been made in their cooperation in regional stability, trade, transportation, science and technology as well as culture and education.

The leaders agreed to make more efforts in strengthening trade and economic cooperation, and improving investment environment on the basis of mutual benefit and equality, said the communique released after a one-day meeting.

The implementation plan of the program for multilateral economic and trade cooperation among SCO members ratified by the prime ministers will lay an important foundation for fulfilling the proposed tasks in the economic and trade field, it said.

They agreed that the departments concerned of the SCO members should carry out the implementation plan earnestly, in accordance with the proposals put forward at the SCO trade and economy ministers meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in February 2005, the communique said.

The proposals deal with energy, transportation, telecommunication, science and technology, agricultural demonstration programs, as well as the laws and regulations on boosting cooperation among SCO members.

Senior trade and economic officials of the SCO members and the SCO Secretariat were responsible for coordinating the implementation plan and would report the development to the 2006 meeting of the SCO prime ministers scheduled in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The prime ministers also highlighted the importance and urgency of their cooperation in oil and gas exploration as well as the construction of oil and gas pipelines, and stressed the necessity of cooperation in the high-tech field of information and telecommunication, the communique said.

Customs cooperation among the SCO members has made remarkable progress, and consultations should be stepped up on the draft of Agreement of Governments of SCO Member States on Customs Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, which is expected to be signed before the Dushanbe meeting next year.

The leaders expressed satisfaction with the first meeting of the council of the SCO entrepreneurs' committee and the signing of Agreement of SCO Inter-bank Cooperation, adding that the business and financial communities of the SCO members should take part in large-scale jointly invested projects in Central Asia in a more active way, said the communique.

They paid special attention to the creation of favorable conditions for promoting trade and investment cooperation and voiced their support for holding a forum of enterprises and an industry and business exhibition next year to mark the fifth anniversary of the SCO establishment, it said.

The SCO, which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, was founded in June 2001.

The prime ministers believed the SCO members should speed up their talks on the creation and rules of the SCO development fund, which should be completed in the first quarter of 2006.

They also regarded it helpful for the SCO Secretariat, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the China Development Bank to hold an Asia-Europe economic forum in Xi'an, capital of China's northwestern Shaanxi province, in November 2005, said the communique.

The prime ministers reaffirmed the importance of continuing dialogues on transportation cooperation, strengthening the effect and roles of the SCO transportation ministers meeting, working out a cross-border transportation policy and establishing an international transportation corridor across the SCO members, it said.

They noted that the SCO should accelerate the talks and signing process of an inter-governmental agreement on the facilitation of international road and railway transportation.

The prime ministers also agreed to take concrete measures to realize joint investment projects using China's loans, under the charge of the SCO trade and economy ministers meeting and the SCO Secretariat, said the communique.

They expressed confidence that the first ministerial meeting of the SCO members on environment protection will lay a good foundation for expanding their cooperation in this field, said the communique.

The prime ministers said they will keep on supporting cooperation in humanities field among the SCO members. They stressed that the meeting of culture ministers and the first cultural and art festival of the six members held in July in Kazakhstan are of active significance.

They agreed that it is appropriate to start their multilateral cooperation in education and to hold the first SCO education ministers' meeting in the first half of next year, which will sign an inter-governmental cooperation agreement on education among the SCO members, said the communique.

They hailed the recent signing of the Agreement of Mutual Aid Among Governments in Disaster Relief and believed that their cooperation in the field will achieve substantial results.

The prime ministers also approved the budget of the SCO in 2006, it added.

Leaders attending the meeting include Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Feliks Kulov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov and Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Utkur Tukhtamuradovich Sultanov.

Iranian First Vice-President Parviz Dawoodi, Mongolian Prime Minister Tsakhia Elbegdorj, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh also attended the meeting for the first time as observers.

Source: Xinhua