Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has lauded the role of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism,
noting that the regional body should make efforts to become an inalienable part
of the global anti-terrorism mechanism.
In an interview with Xinhua before the SCO summit on June 15 in Shanghai,
Nazarbayev said SCO members, including Kazakhstan and China, have been attaching
great importance to maintaining security, peace and stability on the Europe-Asia
continent.
The fight against the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and
extremism, which are posing a grave threat to the peoples of SCO countries, has
been a main direction of the SCO since its inauguration in 2001, said
Nazarbayev.
To this end, Nazarbayev said the SCO members signed the Astana Declaration at
the SCO summit last year in Astana of Kazakhstan, in which the SCO clarified its
stance on the most urgent international and regional security issues.
The summit also adopted the Concept of Cooperation of the SCO Members in
Fighting Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, he added.
The SCO members are taking actions to crack down on terrorism activities on
their territories, including those targeting other countries' national
interests, the president said.
The six countries of the SCO have held anti-terrorism exercises within the
framework of the SCO and conducted consultations and exchanged information
regularly, Nazarbayev said. The SCO consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The regional anti-terrorism agency of the SCO, established in 2004 to
coordinate SCO members' anti-terrorist efforts, are currently working on legal
documents for SCO members in fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism, said
Nazarbayev.
He also said the SCO members are sparing no efforts to improve the situation
in volatile Afghanistan.
A liaison group was established in November 2005 between the SCO and
Afghanistan to tackle issues of common concern, he said, adding that the SCO
will actively take part in the establishing of an "anti-drug zone" around
Afghanistan and in its economic re-construction.
The SCO should making efforts to integrate itself into more international
affairs, becoming an inalienable part of the global anti-terrorism mechanism,
the president added.
