The seventh prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries convened in Astana on Thursday morning.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and government leaders from other SCO member states are to discuss the promotion of cooperation within the SCO.

They are also expected to discuss measures to be taken to deal with the current international financial crisis.

A series of cooperative documents will be signed after the meeting.

The SCO, an inter-governmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001, groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Wen arrived in Astana on Wednesday evening on a three-day official visit to Kazakhstan at the invitation of Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov.

Kazakhstan is the second leg of Wen's two-nation tour which has already taken him to Russia where Wen and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held talks at the 13th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian prime ministers, and met with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and parliament leaders.

Wen and Putin also attended the Third Sino-Russian economic forum in Moscow. The two countries signed a series of cooperative documents in such fields as economy, trade, science and technology, energy and culture.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)