The regional anti-terror center of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has played an important role in maintaining peace and stability in central Asia, a senior Russian security official said in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, on Tuesday.

According to reports reaching here from Tashkent, First Director of Russia's Federal Security Service Sergei Smirnov told a press conference that the anti-terror body has worked out a series of drafts on fighting terrorism, separatism, extremism and illegal weapon smuggling, which are expected to be adopted at the sixth meeting of the SCO anti-terror commission.

Smirnov, who led a Russian delegation in Tashkent for the sixth meeting of the SCO anti-terror commission, said that deficiencies till exist with the anti-terror center's work, referring to SCO members' slowness in reaching consensus on the establishment of an action mechanism to jointly deal with terror attacks.

Some of SCO's multi-lateral legal documents have to wait for along time before being adopted by the SCO members, Smironov said, urging the SCO members to move quickly to adopt relevant SCO documents so as to make the body more efficient.

The sixth meeting of the SCO anti-terror commission is scheduled to be held in Tashkent on March 29, when participants will work out a regional list of most wanted terrorists and separatists, to ensure that SCO members can coordinate their manhunt.

The SCO, established in 2001 in the Chinese city of Shanghai, groups Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its regional anti-terror center came into operation in Tashkent in June 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)