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SCO heads of state to discuss emergency response document at summit

Speaking about a possible enlargement of the SCO, Cheng said, “Moscow and Beijing have no disagreements on this issue”

MOSCOW, April 28 (Itar-Tass) —— The heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will discuss an emergency response document at their summit in Beijing in June, Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said on Saturday, April 28.

“We intend to take important steps aimed at its strengthening and further development,” he said.

In the field of security, the SCO leaders will approve a document that regulates the member states’ actions in an emergency.

“We seek to ensure that we have a mechanism for responding to negative factors in case of emergency in Central Asia,” the diplomat said.

Speaking about a possible enlargement of the SCO, Cheng said, “Moscow and Beijing have no disagreements on this issue”.

“When the conditions become ripe, we should attract new members of the Organisation. SCO enlargement will help strengthen and develop solidarity within this international mechanism,” he said.

The SCO's internal policy is based on the principles of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equal rights, consultations, respect for the diversity of cultures and aspiration towards common development, its external policy is conducted in accordance with the principles of non-alignment, non-targeting anyone and openness.

The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the highest decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once every year to make decisions and give instructions on all important issues of SCO activity. The Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once every year to discuss a strategy for multilateral cooperation and priority directions within the Organisation's framework, to solve some important and pressing issues of cooperation in economic and other areas as well as to adopt the Organisation's annual budget.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an intergovernmental mutual-security organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organisation.

The SCO member states occupy a territory of around 30,189,000 square kilometres, which makes up three fifths of the Eurasian continent, and have a population of 1.5 billion, which makes up a quarter of the planet's population.

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