The meeting between the prime ministers of the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the common ground reached by participants have ushered in a new level of development for the multilateral body, according to an article in People's Daily.

The meeting, convened on Tuesday in Beijing, brought together the prime ministers of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan - SCO's six members - for consultation on issues relevant to the prospects of the body.

At the assembly, the prime ministers focused on discussing economic and trade cooperation issues among SCO members, and exchanged views on improving the construction mechanism of the body and promoting its pragmatic cooperation. The meeting achieved important consensuses.

The fruitful results of the gathering also signifies that the SCO, which was founded in Shanghai in 1996 as the Shanghai Five with an original purpose of regional security cooperation, has already moved from its infancy to preparing to take on a more independent role in the international arena.

SCO's summit meeting in Moscow in May drew up a map for the body's development.

The main purpose of the just-concluded prime ministers' meeting was discussing how to effectively implement the spirit of the Moscow summit and push forward the body's cooperation across various fields to maintain its development momentum, said the article.

Economic cooperation, which has become the key scope for cooperation among SCO members, serves as an effective force propelling the strengthening and deepening of the body's mutually beneficial cooperation.

The trend mirrors the background of economic globalization and regional integration.

Two years ago, the prime ministers of SCO members held their first meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, officially starting the process of multilateral economic and trade cooperation of the six countries.

So far, SCO has successively established mechanisms for meetings between economic ministers and transportation ministers.

The body has also started the process of trade and investment accord, explored a feasible path for effective cooperation in economic and trade fields, and formed basic ideas and common feelings for regional economic cooperation.

Upon this, the prime ministers signed a framework agreement on multilateral economic and trade cooperation among SOC members.

The framework document confirms the SCO's preferential domains for economic cooperation - its main tasks at the present time - as well as its long-term strategic goals.

The agreement, which will inevitably play an important role in guiding economic cooperation among SCO members, signifies that the body's function of economic cooperation has already been activated, said the article.

Satisfied with the establishment of the SCO's meeting mechanisms, the prime ministers came to a unanimous agreement that the body should map out its work in next stage under the guidance of the common grounds reached in Moscow.

The participants also decided to put into a full operation the SCO's Secretariat in Beijing and its Counter-Terrorism Regional Structure in Tashkent, the body's two permanent organs.

Obviously, the latest gathering will inevitably create completely new conditions for the further expansion of collaboration between SCO members and strengthen the body itself.

The SCO is developing into an important factor in bringing its members closer together and strengthening mutual trust, said the article.

The body will also develop into an effective mechanism contributing to regional security and stability, as well as an active force promoting world peace and development.

(China Daily September 25, 2003)