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)