Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states on Thursday pledged to give full play to the role of the organization's Regional Anti-terrorist Structure and raise the SCO security cooperation to a new height.

The member states of the organization were satisfied with increased cooperation within the SCO framework in their fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, said the leaders in a joint declaration issued at the end of their summit in the Tajik capital, Xinhua reported.

The SCO members reiterated their efforts to maintain the central coordinating role of the United Nations in the global fight against terrorism, and to steadfastly implement the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and to finalize a comprehensive convention on fighting global terrorism at an early date.

External threats and challenges to security have become the factors destabilizing the situation in the region. The latest developments in Afghanistan, the expanding drug trafficking and rampant transnational organized crime have made it imperative to strengthen cooperation, they noted.

The leaders also pledged to establish a mechanism of joint assessment, prevention and response to these threats and challenges.

They said efforts within the SCO framework in creating an international legal framework for ensuring international information security cooperation have proved to be fruitful, and so has been the work aimed at setting up practical cooperative mechanism.

The leaders also pledged joint efforts to push forward the implementation of proposals of the UN Resolution 62/17, namely, Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security.

The leaders reiterated that it is imperative to respect the history and cultural tradition of every country and ethnic group, and the efforts to safeguard national unity and territorial integrity and promote harmonious coexistence and common development among all nations.

On the issue related to the creation of a global anti-missile defense system, they stressed that the establishment of such a system will not help in maintaining a strategic balance, runs counter to international efforts towards arms control and nuclear non-proliferation, and is not conducive to enhancing trust among countries and regional stability.

The declaration was signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, his Kyrgyz peer Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov.

Uzreport.com