DUSHANBE, October 29, 2008, Asia-Plus — Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov is representing Tajikistan at a session of the council of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation (SCO) that is opening in Astana, Kazakhstan today.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Firouz Hikmatov, an aide to the prime minister, said that the session is considering issues related to expansion of cooperation between member nations of the SCO in economic and humanitarian spheres as well as implementation of agreements reached at a session of the council of the SCO heads of state that was in Dushanbe last August.
The session of the council of heads of government is expected to end with signing of a joint communiqué, and a number of other documents related to cooperation between member nations of the Organization, the aide said.
The previous session of the council of the SCO heads of government was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in November 2007. The Tashkent session resulted in adoption of resolution on the organization’s budget and singing of a joint communiqué and an agreement between the governments of the SCO states on cooperation and mutual assistance in the customs sphere.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
The Council of Heads of State is the top decision-making body in the SCO. This council meets at the SCO summits, which are held each year in one of the member states” capital cities.
The Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest council in the organization. This council also holds annual summits, at which time members discuss issues of multilateral cooperation. The council also approves the organization”s budget.
Currently, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization does not have an official mechanism for admitting new members. Several states, however, participate as observers, some of whom have expressed interest in becoming full members in the future. India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan have observer status in the SCO.
Afghanistan, while not an observer, is currently part of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group. The contact group was established in November 2005, and serves as a mechanism for SCO member states to jointly contribute to reconstruction and stability in Afghanistan
