Top legislators of the six member states of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) pledged in Moscow on Tuesday to
further promote cooperation in various fields, especially
cooperation between legislatures within the group.
The commitment was made in a joint statement issued after SCO's
first speakers' meeting, attended by Chairman of the Kazakh Senate
Nurtai Abykayev, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's
National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Bangguo, Speaker of the Supreme
Council of Kyrgyzstan Marat Sultanov, Chairman of the Russian
Federation Council (the upper house) Sergei Mironov, Chairman of
the Russian State Duma (the lower house) Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of
the Upper House of the Supreme Assembly of Tajikistan Makhmad said
Ubaidullayev and Speaker of Uzbekistan's Legislature Chamber Erkin
Khalilov.
Highlighting SCO's principles of mutual trust, mutual benefit,
equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and
aspiration for common development, participants of the meeting
pledged in the statement to support efforts of SCO's member states
and governments to promote continued development of the group,
safeguard regional peace and stability and enhance economic
cooperation.
Inter-parliamentary cooperation constitutes an important part of
the cooperation within the group, the statement said, adding that
the legislatures will play a more active role in providing legal
safeguards for cooperation among member states in all fields.
The respective legislatures will enhance exchanges in lawmaking
experience and legal information, coordinate member states' laws in
a timely and balanced way and speed up ratification of SCO-related
agreements, the statement said.
The participants also reiterated that the legislatures would
provide legal support to aid cooperation in security, economy,
culture and society among member states, the statement said.
Ways to strengthen the inter-parliamentary cooperation include
regular meetings of top legislators of the member states and
representative consultations among specialized committees, the
statement added.
The statement also reviewed the achievements accomplished since
the group's establishment five years ago. These list safeguarding
peace, stability and security of Middle Asia, fighting terrorism,
separatism, extremism, drug and weapons smuggling and
over-the-border crimes. Developing cooperation among members'
economies, science and technology, culture and education, improving
peoples' living standards and addressing illegal immigration were
also included in the document.
The SCO has also contributed to strengthening political
cooperation and promoting coordination and consultation in dealing
with significant international and regional issues, the statement
added.
The statement came just weeks before the heads of state from the
six member states, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, are expected to meet in Shanghai on June
15 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of SCO's establishment.
The SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, with a view to
promoting regional security and fighting terrorism.
The SCO has accepted Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India as
observers.
The participants expressed their belief that the summit would
strengthen the group's achievements in politics, economy, culture
and security, according to the statement.
The summit will also contribute to bringing multilateral
cooperation between the member states to a higher level, and to
further promoting the SCO's development, the statement said.
This is the first time the top legislators from the six SCO
member states have met.
(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2006)
