The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has achieved breakthroughs in political, economic and military cooperation as well as in its structure building since its founding more than two years ago.

The upcoming SCO meeting of trade and economic ministers in Kyrgyzstan and the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in Uzbekistan, both slated for this week, will certainly enhance the development of the organization.

Set up in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, the SCO groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The organization evolved from the initial mechanism of "Shanghai Five," which was officially launched in 1996.

In April 1996, Presidents of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan held their first joint meeting in Shanghai, and signed an agreement on confidence building in the military field in border areas.

In April 1997, the heads of state from the five countries signed an agreement on mutual reduction of military forces in the border areas. In the following years, the leaders held annual summits in each country by turns, thus set up a mechanism of regular meetings of the five heads of state, which was named "Shanghai Five" because of the venue of its first meeting.

In June 2001, to meet the demands of regional and multilateral cooperation due to changes in the international and regional situation, presidents from "Shanghai Five" plus Uzbekistan signed the Declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, officially inaugurating the SCO.

The birth of the SCO, a significant development in modern international affairs, brought about a new security concept featuring mutual trust, disarmament and security cooperation. It also advocates new state-to-state relations and a new regional cooperation mode, deepening military trust and cooperation and enhancing cooperation in the fight against the "three evil forces"of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

In September 2001, prime ministers from the SCO member countries held their first meeting in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, and decided to start multilateral trade-economic cooperation process of the six countries. They signed a memorandum on the basic goals and directions for regional economic cooperation among the six governments of the SCO and on launching a process of facilitating trade and investment among them. They also announced the formal establishment of a mechanism for regular prime ministerial meetings within the framework of the SCO.

Since then, the SCO members have launched their cooperation in various fields and at various levels, strengthened cooperation in cultural, trade-economic, military, judicial and security aspects. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Central Asia witnessed Western military presence, which produced an ordeal for the new-born SCO. In response, the SCO took anti-terrorism as one of its important tasks and thus deepened mutual trust and cohesion among the memberstates.

In June 2002, the six presidents held their landmark second summit in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg. They signed the Charter for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which clearly defines the principle, organization and operation ofthe SCO.

They also inked an agreement on the establishment of an anti-terrorism agency in the region and the declaration of presidents of the SCO members. By signing these documents, the leaders laid the legal foundation of the SCO.

They unanimously agreed that the regional anti-terrorism agency should be the SCO's standing organ with an aim to promote the SCO members' cooperation in cracking down on terrorism, separatism andreligious extremism.

In May this year, the third SCO summit was successfully held in Moscow. Leaders of the SCO discussed ways to answer challenges, strengthen coordination and cooperation, improve regional peace and development in new situations as well as other important issues of common concern.

They reached consensus on these issues and issued a joint declaration, pledging enhanced cooperation in politics, economics and trade, and culture. The summit also demanded all relevant parties further fulfill the specifications on forming the SCO standing agencies. So far, the SCO has completed its main work in structure construction.

In August 2003, five SCO members conducted a joint anti-terror exercises, the first of its kind within the framework of the SCO. More than 1,000 soldiers from China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan took part in the drills codenamed "Coalition2003."

In the exercises, the coalition forces displayed their militarycompetence and wrote a new chapter in the SCO members' military cooperation as well as in the history of friendly exchanges between these countries.

The drills improved the SCO members' solidarity, friendship and cooperation in the maintenance of regional peace and world anti-terror efforts, representing a big breakthrough in the SCO's military cooperation.

The SCO has evolved into an effective mechanism for maintaining regional security and stability, observers say.

According to its charter, the SCO aims to strengthen mutual trust and good-neighborly and friendly relations among member states, encourage further effective cooperation in various fields, jointly ensure regional peace, security and stability, and help create a new international political and economic order featuring democracy, justness and rationality.

Therefore, people have reasons to believe that the SCO's development conforms to the interests of all countries involved and will greatly accelerate the stability and prosperity of the region.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2003)