Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday urged closer cooperation among member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the fight against terrorism and economy.

Addressing the third meeting of SCO prime ministers in Bishkek, Wen stressed that terrorism, separatism and extremism constitute the major threat to the regional peace and stability and SCO member states should strengthen security cooperation at the multilateral and bilateral levels.

The urgent tasks facing the SCO are to work together to make the regional anti-terrorism institutions operate effectively, further exchange information and promote coordination among law enforcement departments, and establish mechanisms of liaison and contingency, Wen noted.

Since its establishment, Wen said, the SCO has made effective efforts to improve itself and promote regional cooperation and it has also played an important role in deepening the good-neighborly and friendly cooperation among member states and maintaining regional peace and development.

Wen noted that the SCO summit held in June in Tashkent ushered in a new phase in the all-around cooperation among SCO members.

To enhance regional economic cooperation is another important task of the SCO, Wen said. SCO member states should gradually deepen their economic cooperation, build closer economic ties, create favorable conditions for economic cooperation and earnestly implement multilateral cooperation programs, he added.

Wen also said SCO member states should boost exchanges between their peoples to promote mutual understanding and friendship.

The SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Its member states cover an area of more than 30 million square km with a population of 1.46 billion. Its working languages are Chinese and Russian.

The SCO originated and grew from the Shanghai Five mechanism, also known as the "Shanghai Five," which was set up in 1996 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with the aim of strengthening confidence-building, carrying out disarmament in their border areas and promoting regional cooperation.

According to the SCO Charter and the Declaration on the Establishment of the SCO, the main purposes of the SCO are: strengthening mutual trust and good-neighborliness and friendship among member states; developing effective cooperation in political affairs, economy, trade, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transportation, environmental protection and other fields; working together to maintain regional peace, security and stability; and promoting the creation of a new international political and economic order featuring democracy, justice and rationality.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2004)