The Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders plan to sign several agreements enhancing anti-terror cooperation at their summit in Shanghai on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev said in Moscow on Monday.

"Joint efforts against terrorism, separatism and extremism, the fight against illicit drug and arms trafficking, and illegal migration are among the key goals and objectives of the organization," Alexeyev was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Work is coordinated through meetings of the national Security Council secretaries and the Regional Anti-Terror Structure (RATS), which "prepares proposals on the development of cooperation in this field for relevant structures in the SCO member countries, and builds up the RATS databank on international terrorists, separatists or other extremists," Alexeyev said.

The leaders of the six SCO member states -- Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- also plan to sign "agreements on cooperation in exposing and blocking channels used for infiltrating persons involved in terrorist, separatist and extremist activities into the SCO countries," he said.

"The scale and nature of transborder threats are such that the operations of special agencies alone are not enough. The defense ministries have also become involved in anti-terror work within the SCO," the diplomat said.

In 2003, an anti-terror exercise code named Cooperation-2003 was held in Kazakhstan and China. It involved more than 1,000 military servicemen from Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.

"A similar exercise is planned to be held in Russia" in 2007, Alexeyev said.

Source: Xinhua