OREANDA-NEWS. June 19, 2009. The Council of Heads of State meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization held in Yekaterinburg on June 15-16 in our minds was fruitful and meaningful. Joint evaluations by the SCO countries are fixed in the two political documents adopted at the summit – the Yekaterinburg Declaration and the Joint Communique (published on the Russian President’s website).

One of the chief outcomes of the summit was reconfirmation of the mindset of the SCO member states to strengthen further their multivector cooperation and to streamline collaborative mechanisms within the Organization. Discussions centered on the issues of ensuring security and stability and combating the new challenges and threats, which are the priority ones for the SCO. A number of important documents were signed in Yekaterinburg developing the legal/regulatory base in this sphere – the SCO Convention against Terrorism, the Regulation on Politico-diplomatic Arrangements and Mechanisms for the SCO’s Response to Situations Jeopardizing Peace, Security and Stability, and the Agreement on Cooperation in the Area of Ensuring International Information Security.

Special attention was paid to Afghanistan-related themes.

Problems of the financial and economic crisis figured prominently in the discussions.

SCO participants expressed the intention to support contact promotion work in culture, education and youth ties. Past undertakings provide a good basis for movement forward here – enough to recall the arts festivals, the work on the creation of SCO University, and the establishment of the Youth Council.

The Heads of State took decision to grant Dialogue Partner status to Belarus and Sri Lanka and tasked the SCO Secretariat with preparing and signing with these countries the memorandums that will fix procedures and basic guidelines for cooperation.

For Russia this summit had special significance, because it concluded the year-long Russian chairmanship period of the SCO, and we are happy that the partners gave positive marks to our work.

The Republic of Uzbekistan takes over the SCO chairmanship after the summit and the Russian side, for its part, stands ready to provide assistance to the Uzbek friends.