DUSHANBE, August 28, 2008, Asia-Plus — A summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that was held in Dushanbe on August 28 resulted in signing of a number of documents, including the Dushanbe declaration.
The Dushanbe declaration is a political document on SCO member nations’ common position on a series of major international and regional issues and the regulations on dialogue partner status.
The SCO leaders also issued a joint communiqué on the achievements of the summit, and sign some other cooperation documents on security and economy.
They, in particular, signed an agreement on the fight against trafficking in weapons, ammunition and explosives, a memorandum on fundamentals of partnership between the SCO Interbank Association and the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), a resolution on approval of the report by the SCO secretary general about the Organization’s activity over the past year, and a resolution on approval of the report about activity of the SCO anti-terrorist structure in 2007.
Founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, the SCO groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have a status of observer at the Organization.
The SCO member states cover an area of over 30 million square kilometers, or about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion, about a quarter of the world”s total.
In the past seven years, the SCO has made important contributions to strengthening mutual trust among its members, deepening pragmatic cooperation and safeguarding regional security and stability.
