¡¡¡¡MOSCOW, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is
seeking new forms of cooperation, in order that "our cooperation will generate
the most positive impacts on the livelihood of the 3 billion people in the world
who are covered by the SCO," Russian President Vladimir Putin said here
onSaturday.
¡¡¡¡In an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to his visit to China on March
21-22, Putin said the SCO has truly become an organization of regional
integration, with regional cooperation ineconomic and social fields being
steadily strengthened.
¡¡¡¡"The SCO will celebrate its fifth anniversary on June 15 ... The SCO
doesn't have a long history, but its members have not onlycompleted the tasks
set at the founding of the organization, but also surpassed the initial goals,"
he said.
¡¡¡¡Apart from the organization's founding members of China, Russia,Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the SCO has also taken economically and
socially important countries like India, Iran, Pakistan and Mongolia as
observers, the president said.
¡¡¡¡The organization continues to work toward safeguarding regionalstability
and security, combating separatism, extremism and terrorism, he said.
¡¡¡¡The SCO summit scheduled for June in Shanghai will not only reemphasize the
founding principles of the group, but also carry forward the spirit to
demonstrate the member states' willingness to mapping out new ways of
international cooperation, he said. Enditem