The Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
was launched in Beijing Thursday.
Zhang Deguang, former Chinese vice foreign minister and former
Chinese ambassador to Russia was appointed the first SCO
secretary-general.
Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and the foreign ministers
of six SCO members -- Li Zhaoxing from China, Kasymzhomart
Tokayevfrom Kazakhstan, Askar Aytmatov from Kyrgyzstan, Igor Ivanov
from Russia, Talbak Nazarov from Tajikistan, and Sodik Safaev from
Uzbekistan -- and representatives of some international
organizations were invited to attend the inaugural ceremony of the
secretariat.
Establishment of the secretariat was decided at the Moscow
Summit in May 2003 by heads of state of SCO members. Its main
functions are to provide organizational and technical guarantees
for the SCO's activities, to participate in the research and
implementation of documents of various departments, and put forward
suggestions for the organization's annual budget.
Designated by the summit meeting and held in turn by member
states in Russian alphabetic order, every secretary-general can
serve only one term of three years.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, officially established in
June 2001, comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2003)