Uzbekistan has been admitted to the "Shanghai Five", a co-operative mechanism between China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan launched in 1996.

The heads of states of the six countries made the decision in a joint statement signed here Thursday afternoon.

The statement also endorsed Uzbekistan as a co-founder of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is expected to be launched during the ongoing summit.

In the statement, Uzbekistan expressed its endorsement of the spirit and principles of the "Shanghai Five" mechanism and its willingness to join the process on the basis of complete equality.

Members of the "Shanghai Five", China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan welcomed Uzbekistan's wish to cooperate with them on the basis of trust and mutual understanding, and decided to admit it to the mechanism as a fully equal member.

In the statement, Uzbekistan obliges itself to the treaty on deepening military trust in border regions, the treaty on reduction of military forces in border regions and the principles behind other agreements signed by the "Shanghai Five" nations.

The heads of states endorsed Uzbekistan's application as a co- founder of the SCO and a signatory of the SCO inaugural declaration and the treaty on crackdown of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed the joint statement.

(Xinhua 06/14/2001)