Wednesday is the 15th anniversary of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It has grown into an important mechanism for maintaining regional stability and promoting the development of member states.
The SCO was established in 2001 with six member countries - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It now has a further 12 observer states and dialogue partners. The population of the 18 countries involved accounts for 45 per cent of the world total.
It promotes cooperation between member states on a wide range of issues, including security, economy and culture. Security is one the main focuses of the SCO’s work. Yao Peisheng, China’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Ukraine, has been involved in the work of the SCO for many years and talked about the organisations achievements.
"The SCO has accomplished much in security, particularly in the fight against terrorism, regional separatists and religious extremism. In this field, this is a reliable mechanism. Memeber nations share intelligence information about terrorist activities and have also held many military drills," said Yao Peisheng, former ambassador to Uzbeskistan.