Presidents of the
Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz
Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the
Republic of Uzbekistan signed Friday the Declaration of Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The presidents highly appraised the active role played by the "
Shanghai Five" in stimulating and deepening mutual trust, good-
neighborly and friendly relations among the member states,
strengthening regional security and stability, and promoting common
development in its five years of history, the Declaration said.
The presidents held the same view that the establishment and
development of the "Shanghai Five" had conformed to the historic
trend for peace and development in the human society after the Cold
War and displayed the great potential of good-neighborly co-
existence, unity and cooperation, through mutual respect and trust,
among countries with different civilization backgrounds and
traditional cultures, the Declaration said.
The presidents specially pointed out that the Treaty on Deepening
Military Trust in Border Regions in 1996 in Shanghai and the Treaty
on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions in 1997 in Moscow
signed by the heads of states of Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia and Tajikistan, as well as the summary documents of the 1998
Alma-ata Summit, the 1999 Bishkek Summit and the 2000 Dushanbe
Summit, have made significant contribution to regional and world
peace, security and stability, greatly enriched the modern
diplomatic and regional cooperation practice, and exerted an
extensive and positive influence in the international community, the
Declaration said.
Against the backdrop of political multi-polarization, and
economic and information globalization in the 21st century, the
presidents firmly believed that to transform the "Shanghai Five"
mechanism into a higher level of cooperation will help member states
to share opportunities and deal with new challenges and threats more
effectively, according to the Declaration.
Therefore, they announced the establishment of the SCO, which
aims at strengthening mutual trust and good-neighborly and friendly
relations among member states, encouraging their further effective
cooperation in politics, economy, science and technology, culture,
education, energy, transportation, environmental protection and
other fields, jointly ensuring regional peace, security and
stability, and creating a new international political and economic
order featuring democracy, justness and rationality, according to
the Declaration.
The SCO plans to organize annual formal meeting of heads of
states of member states and regular meetings of heads of governments
to be hosted by its members in turn. In order to extend and
strengthen cooperation in various fields, the SCO is considering,
besides the existing meeting mechanism among officials of
corresponding departments, to set up necessary new meeting
mechanisms and establish permanent or temporary expert groups to
study plans and proposals for further cooperation, the Declaration
said.
The "Shanghai Spirit", featuring mutual trust and benefit,
equality, consultation, mutual respect to different civilizations
and common prosperity, which was developed in the course of the "
Shanghai Five", is a treasure accumulated through the member states'
cooperation in recent years. This spirit should be carried forward
and developed into the principle for bilateral and multilateral
relations of the SCO countries in the 21st century, the Declaration
said.
All the SCO member states should strictly abide by the principle
of the Charter of the United Nations, respect each other's
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, not to
interfere in each other's internal affairs, not to use force or
threat to use force, achieve equality and mutual benefit, solve all
issues through consultations, never to try to gain military
superiority over neighboring countries, according to the
Declaration.
On the basis of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border
Regions in 1996 in Shanghai and the Treaty on Reduction of Military
Forces in Border Regions in 1997 in Moscow, the SCO plans to expand
cooperation among the member states in political, economic and
trade, cultural, scientific and technological and other fields. The
principles embodied in the above two treaties determine the basis of
the relationship among the SCO member states, the Declaration said.
In pursuit of the principle of non-alignment, not targeting to
the third country or region, and opening to the outside world, the
SCO is willing to carry out various dialogues, exchanges and
cooperation with any other country and other international or
regional organizations, the Declaration said.
On the basis of unanimous agreement through consultation among
the existing member states, the SCO is also willing to accept new
member which agrees with the organization's aim, tasks, principle
and other provisions, the Declaration said.
The SCO attaches special importance to make every effort to
ensure regional security. All member states will closely cooperate
with each other in implementing the Shanghai treaty on the crackdown
on terrorism, separatism and extremism, including to establish the
SCO anti-terrorism center in Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the
member states will work out corresponding documents of multinational
cooperation in a bid to curb illegal arms smuggling, drug
trafficking, illegal migration and other criminal activities,
according to the Declaration.
Making use of the great potential and extensive opportunities in
trade and economic cooperation among the member states, the SCO will
promote the further development of bilateral and multilateral
cooperation between and among member states and the pluralism of
cooperation. Within the SCO framework, the SCO will start the
negotiation procedure of trade and investment facilitation,
according to the Declaration.
The SCO member states will strengthen their consultation and
coordination in regional and international affairs, support and
cooperate with each other in major international and regional issues
and promote and consolidate regional and world peace and stability,
the Declaration said.
To maintain global strategic balance and stability under the
international circumstances at present is of special significance,
the Declaration said.
The SCO has approved to set up the Council of Coordinators of
Member States to coordinate cooperation among the member states. The
activities of the council are standardized by the Interim Rules of
Procedure for the Council of Coordinators of SCO Member States
approved by the foreign ministers of the member states, the
Declaration said.
The council is ordered to draft the SCO charter on the basis of
this Declaration and other documents signed by the heads of states
of the "Shanghai Five" countries. The charter, which is expected to
be signed by heads of the states of member states during the 2002
SCO summit, will expound the principle, purpose and tasks of the SCO
future cooperation, the principle and procedure for accepting new
members, the legal effect of the organization's decisions, and means
of cooperation between the SCO and other international
organizations, the Declaration said.
Summing up the past and looking forward to the future, the
presidents believe that the establishment of the SCO marks a new
development stage for cooperation among all the member states, which
conforms to the trend of the times, the reality of the region and
the fundamental interests of the people of all the member states,
the Declaration said.