Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will further enhance regional multilateral cooperation in the fields of economics and humanity, and boost their economic growth.

That was the message contained in a joint communique issued at the Sixth Meeting of Prime Ministers of the SCO Member States on Friday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

"The prime ministers all agree that since the meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in September 2006, all member states have apparently intensified their efforts to deepen and broaden their cooperation in the fields of economics and humanity, with a number of model projects launched successfully," the communique said.

The meeting of ministers in charge of trade and economic affairs, held in Astana last month, reviewed and confirmed the concrete measures for fulfilling the program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation among SCO member states, and yielded positive results. Resolutions adopted at the meeting are being implemented in an orderly way, added the communique.

The commmunique noted that selecting priority projects that are up to international standard and doing a good job of their economic and technological assessment will inject new vitality into the integration of organization.

Large-scale projects closely related to the SCO Business Council and Interbank Consortium are of great importance in future cooperation between member states, especially those concerning high tech, infrastructure, primary economic sectors and export-oriented projects, the communique said.

The prime ministers expressed satisfaction with the Agreement on Cooperation of the SCO Business Council and Interbank Consortium, and believe that the council and consortium should strength the pragmatic and effective cooperation within the SCO framework on the basis of fair partnership and mutual benefit, said the communique.

The leaders also believe that the regulations on selecting, evaluating and implementing investment projects by the SCO Interbank Consortium are of great significance in boosting investment in the member states, the communique said.

The prime ministers instruct the SCO secretariat, with the help of experts groups, to make an assessment of the projects designated in the plan for action to implement the program, said the communique.

The leaders believe it is necessary to intensify the research on setting up a SCO development fund, as trade, economic and investment cooperation, including the launching of model projects, all need fund support, said the communique.

The six leaders attending the meeting are Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Kyrgyz Acting PrimeMinister Almaz Atambayev, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov and Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov.

Representatives from the four SCO observer nations, Pakistan, Mongolia, Iran and India, also attended the meeting. 

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2007)