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News Analysis: What drives SCO forward?
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-16 14:30

SHANGHAI -- Over the past five years, the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) has evolved into a regional grouping with increasing
international clout. Its 2006 Shanghai summit is certainly a big event in
the history of the SCO's development.

Thursday's summit reviewed the organization's achievements in the past
five years and outlined objectives for future cooperation. Chinese
President Hu Jintao said the summit this year signifies that the regional
organization has entered a new era of development.

Against the backdrop of complicated world situations and numerous
regional challenges, the SCO was set up on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai on
the basis of the "Shanghai Five."

The member countries were united under the banner of the " Shanghai
Spirit" which embodies mutual trust and benefit, equality, consultation,
respect for cultural diversity and a desire for common development.

Different from the Cold War mentality characterized by allied
confrontation, the spirit embodies the shared aspiration of the
international community for realizing democracy in international
relations and enriches the theory and practice of contemporary
international relations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his keynote speech at the summit
that the "Shanghai Spirit" enables every SCO member to enjoy truly equal
partnership.

In the years to come, "Shanghai Spirit" will be carried forward in the
campaign for an SCO that features more pragmatic cooperation, more
efficient action and more important role.

SCO member states cover an area of over 30 million square kilometers, or
about three-fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.489 billion, nearly
a quarter of the world's total.

China and other SCO members are working on 127 joint projects covering
the areas of trade, investment, customs, finance, taxation,
transportation, energy, agriculture, technology, telecommunications,
environment, health and education.

The regional bloc has also set up seven specialist panels to study and
coordinate action in such fields as customs, transportation, energy and
telecommunications.

On the sidelines of this year's summit, some 2 billion U.S. dollars worth
of business contracts and loan agreements were inked, with the deals
involving a highway project connecting Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, two
high-voltage electricity lines in Tajikistan, a cement plant in
Kyrgyzstan, and a hydropower station in Kazakhstan.

The goal of the SCO in economic cooperation is to realize free flow of
goods, service, capital and technology by 2020 among its members.

In recent years, the SCO has done a lot of substantial work in the
defense and security area. A number of anti-terror military exercises
have been held and a largest-ever one is going to be staged in Russia in
2007.

Battling the "three evil forces" on the one hand, the SCO has to address
other non-traditional security threats and challenges such as drug
trafficking, money laundering and weapons smuggling in the region.

The region has been a conduit for Afghan drugs to flow into Europe and
other parts of the world.

To cure the headache, the SCO established a liaison group in November
2005 between the SCO and Afghanistan and was about to help Afghanistan
set up an "anti-drug zone."
At the Shanghai summit, the SCO further strengthened its hand in fighting
terrorism.
Among the 10 documents signed on the summit, at least four are directly
related to such efforts -- a statement on international information
security, a resolution on fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism
from 2007 to 2009, an agreement on joint anti-terrorism actions among
member countries, and an agreement on cutting off the infiltration
channels of terrorists, separatists and extremists.

In a joint communique released on Thursday, the six SCO presidents noted
"it remains the top priority of the Organization to combat the threats
posed by terrorism, separatism and extremism as well as illegal drug
trafficking, which have not diminished but aggravated in scale and
degree."

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