SCO Summit

 
President Hu Jintao is greeted by Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev on Wednesday.

Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states meet

Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov have signed a joint statement to boost bilateral economic cooperation and make more coordinated effort to fight terrorism.

According to the joint statement signed by Hu and Karimov after their talks in Tashkent on Wednesday, China and Uzbekistan "will continue to push forward bilateral economic and trade cooperation and jointly take measures to further improve their trading structure and increase the two-way trade volume."

The two sides agreed to fully implement a long-term trade agreement signed in late 2009, according to the statement.

The leaders of the two countries spoke highly of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline project and bilateral cooperation in energy and resources exploration, development and trade, saying they will provide what is needed for the building and safe, stable operation of the China-Uzbekistan natural gas pipeline.

While agreeing to make efforts to enhance bilateral trade in natural resources, the two sides also noted that non-resources and high-tech sectors should be a key part of their upcoming cooperation.

Besides, the two sides also vowed to enhance coordination at international and regional economic and financial organizations.

In the statement, China and Uzbekistan pledged to step up coordination and cooperation between their related government departments.

The two sides said they would continue to adopt effective measures to jointly fight all forms of terrorism, including the "Eastern Turkistan" terrorist forces, in a bid to maintain peace and tranquility in the two countries and in the region.

Terrorism, separatism and extremism are still the main threats to regional security and stability, they said, vowing to make a more coordinated effort to fight them in the region.

The two sides believed that it is necessary to take more coordinated steps to continue fighting various forms of religious extremism that has posed serious threats to regional security and stability.
 
 SCO Member States

 China
Founded on October 1, 1949, CHINA  is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with 1.3 billion people.

Kazakhstan
KAZAKHSTAN (REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN) is a Central Asian country in the heartland of the Eurasian continent.

Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan (the Kyrgyz Republic) is a country in the southeastern part of Central Asia with 5.2 million people.
Russia
With an area of 17,075,400 sq.km, RUSSIA (THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, RF) is the largest country in the world.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (The Republic of Tajikistan, RT) is a democratic republic in the southeast of Central Asia.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (the Republic of Uzbekistan, RUz) is a country in Central Asia.

In-depth Coverage
    Countries surrounding Afghanistan, including China and Russia, are likely to make decisions on Friday that will help ease the situation in the war-torn country, where security has badly deteriorated since the beginning of June, a senior Chinese diplomat said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent Thursday for talks on ways of further advancing the China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership.

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday started a state visit to Uzbekistan, where he will also attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Friday.

To Tolkin Yunusov, June is a lucky month. The 27-year-old Uzbek student will graduate as an MBA from a Chinese university in two weeks and then start his doctoral research in product branding. Plus, he just learned that his Chinese wife is pregnant.

 Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived here Wednesday for a state visit to Uzbekistan, where he will also attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

 

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