CHINA / Background

Declaration on Establishment of SCO
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-12 15:14

The heads of state of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People��s Republic
of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of
Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan,

Highly appraise the positive role played by the "Shanghai Five", in the
five years since its founding, in promoting and deepening mutual trust,
relations of friendship and good-neighborliness among the member states,
consolidating regional security and stability and facilitating common
development;

Unanimously recognise that the founding and development of the "Shanghai
Five" have conformed to the post cold-war historic trend that mankind
aspires to peace and development, shown the great potentiality of
peaceful and friendly coexistence, unity and cooperation realized through
mutual respect and confidence by countries with different civilization
backgrounds and traditional cultures;

Point out, in particular, that the two agreements signed by the five
heads of state of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People��s Republic of
China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of
Tajikistan respectively in Shanghai in 1996 and in Moscow in 1997, on
confidence-building in the military sphere in border areas and on mutual
reduction of military forces in the border areas, and the summary
documents signed during their meetings in Alma-Ata (1998), Bishkek
(1999), Dushanbe (2000), have made important contributions to preserving
regional and world peace, security and stability, greatly enriched
contemporary diplomatic and regional cooperation practices and exerted
extensive and positive influence in the international society;

Firmly believe that against a background of the rapid development of the
process of political multipolarisation and information globalization in
the 21st century, it is conducive to the member states more effectively
jointly making use of the opportunities and replying to the new
challenges and threats;

And hereby solemnly declare:

1. The Republic of Kazakhstan, the People��s Republic of China, the
Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and
the Republic of Uzbekistan have founded the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO).

2. The purposes of the SCO are: strengthening mutual trust and
good-neighborly friendship among the member states; encouraging effective
cooperation among the member states in political, economic and trade,
scientific and technological, cultural, educational, energy,
communications, environment and other fields; devoting themselves jointly
to preserving and safeguarding regional peace, security and stability;
and establishing a democratic, fair and rational new international
political and economic order.

3. The SCO shall hold a formal meeting of heads of state of the member
states a year, hold meetings of heads of government regularly; the
meetings shall be held in rotation among the member states. With a view
to expanding and strengthening cooperation in all fields, in addition to
the established meeting mechanisms for the leaders of the relevant
departments, new meeting mechanisms may be set up in accordance with
circumstances, and permanent and temporary expert groups may be formed to
study work plans and proposals for further developing cooperation.

4. The "Shanghai Spirit" formed during the "Shanghai Five" process, with
"mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for
multicivilisations, striving for common development" as its basic
contents, has been precious treasure accumulated in the cooperation among
the countries of the region in recent years. This spirit should be
carried forward so that it will become the norm governing relations among
the SCO member states in the new century.

5. The SCO member states shall abide by strictly the purposes and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations, mutually respect
independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, not interfere in
each other��s internal affairs, not use or threaten to use force against
each other, adhere to equality and mutual benefit, resolve all problems
through mutual consultations and not seek unilateral military superiority
in contiguous regions.

6. The SCO has been evolved on the basis of the two agreements signed
respectively in 1996 in Shanghai and in 1997 in Moscow on
confidence-building in the military sphere in the border areas and on
mutual reduction of military forces in border areas. Its cooperation has
been expanded to political, economic and trade, cultural, scientific and
technological, and other areas. The principles embodied in the
above-mentioned agreements have determined the basis of the mutual
relations among the SCO member states.

7. The SCO adheres to the principle of non-alignment, does not target any
other country or region, and is open to the outside. It is ready to
develop various forms of dialogue, exchanges and cooperation with other
countries, international and regional organisations. On the basis of
consensus, it shall admit as its new members those countries which
recognise the cooperation purposes and tasks within the framework of the
organisation, the principles expounded in Article 6 of the this
declaration and other articles, and whose joining will facilitate the
realisation of cooperation.

8. The SCO sets special store by and makes all necessary efforts to
ensure regional security. The member states will cooperate closely to
implement the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and
Extremism, including setting up an Antiterrorist Center of the SCO in
Bishkek. Moreover, relevant multilateral cooperation documents will be
formulated to restrain illegal weapons and narcotics smuggling, illegal
immigration and other criminal activities.

9. The SCO will make use of the huge potential and extensive
opportunities in the mutually beneficial cooperation in economic and
trade fields among its member states, strive to enhance further
development of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation among the
member states and plurality of this cooperation. For this purpose, a
negotiating process on trade and investment facilitation will be
initiated within the framework of the SCO to formulate an outline of
long-term, multilateral economic and trade cooperation and relevant
documents will be signed.

10. The SCO member states will strengthen their consultations and
coordination of activities in regional and international affairs, support
and cooperate with each other closely on major international and regional
issues, and jointly promote and consolidate peace and stability of the
region and the world. In the current international situation, it is of
particular significance to preserve global strategic balance and
stability.

11. To coordinate the cooperation of the departments in charge of the SCO
member states and organise their mutual collaboration, a National
Coordinators Council of the SCO member states is hereby set up and
foreign ministers of the SCO member states will approve the council��s
temporary rules to regulate its activities.

The heads of state instruct the National Coordinators Council, on the
basis of this declaration and the documents signed by the heads of state
of the "Shanghai Five", to start drafting the Charter of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation which, among other things, shall clearly
enunciate the purposes, goals and tasks of future cooperation of the SCO,
the principle and procedures for the admission of new members, legal
effect of the decisions made and the way to conduct mutual coordination
with other international organisations. The document will be signed at
the 2002 meeting of heads of state.

Summarising the past and looking forward into the future, the heads of
state firmly believe that the founding of the SCO marks the entry into a
brand new development phase for the cooperation of the member states.
This is in conformity with the trend of the times, the realities of this
region and the fundamental interests of the peoples of the member states.

June 15, 2001, Shanghai

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