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Secretary general says SCO taking steps to maintain peace, stability in Eurasia

According to the SCO secretary general, "it is necessary to keep the situation of Afghanistan in the focus, with the leading role of the UN"

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

BEIJING, April 28. /TASS/. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is taking consecutive steps to maintain peace and stability in Eurasia, SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov said on Thursday speaking at the opening of the 5th session of the foreign ministers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

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"The Shanghai Cooperation Organization that celebrates its 15th anniversary this year is taking consecutive steps aimed at maintaining peace and stability in our common home and makes a significant contribution to creating conditions for sustainable economic development and common security on the vast Eurasian space," he said. Despite the short history of cooperation between the SCO and CICA, "the two sides took a number of practical steps to ensure security and stability in the region, the uncompromising struggle against the ‘three evils’ [terrorism, extremism and separatism - TASS] and illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and other cross-border threats and challenges," he said.

According to the SCO secretary general, "it is necessary to keep the situation of Afghanistan in the focus, with the leading role of the UN."

Alimov drew attention to the jubilee SCO summit in Tashkent to be held in June. "The decisions of the Tashkent summit will be an important contribution to promoting the objectives and tasks of confidence building in Asia and Asia’s prosperous future in a globalized world," he said.

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