OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2010. Muratbek Imanaliev, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General, signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation between the Secretariats of the UN and the SCO in Tashkent on April 5.

The Joint Declaration provides a legal basis for cooperation between the Secretariats of the UN and the SCO on issues related to international peace and security under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, particularly in such areas as conflict prevention and resolution, counterterrorism, WMD nonproliferation, combating transnational crime and illicit drug trafficking, and on a number of other issues of mutual concern.

The signing of the Joint Declaration bore testimony to the growth of the international prestige of the SCO, and its focus on the development of external ties and formation of a partnership network of multilateral organizations and forums.