Presidents of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan held an informal summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at Shanghai’s Xijiao Guesthouse Thursday afternoon.

When meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said that he welcomed the five foreign states' leaders to visit Shanghai at the fifth anniversary of the founding of the "Shanghai Five" mechanism.

Jiang also expressed his congratulation to President Karimov for Uzbekistan's formal entry into the "Shanghai Five" mechanism.

The six presidents exchanged views and reached consensus on concerned issues in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

The presidents highly valued the achievements made after the establishment of "Shanghai Five" and appreciated the role of the " Shanghai Five" mechanism for enhancing good-neighborly and friendly relationship between member states and safeguarding regional and world peace and stability.

The informal summit was also a preparation for the SCO formal summit, which is scheduled for June 15.

The presidents agreed that the second summit of the SCO will be held in Russia in the summer season of 2002.

After the informal summit, Wang Yeping, President Jiang's wife, accompanied wives of the five foreign presidents to a tea party.

(Xinhua 06/14/2001)