BEIJING, July 4. /TASS/. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations will strengthen trade and economic mechanisms within the organization, Secretary General of SCO Zhang Ming said on Tuesday.
"[The SCO should] join forces in promoting trade and economic institutional mechanisms, creating favorable conditions for the free movement of goods, capital, technologies, and services, as well as creating new points of economic growth and increasing employment," he said.
The SCO was established in Shanghai on June 15, 2001. Today, the organization comprises eight countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as the founding states, as well as India and Pakistan, which joined the organization in 2017.
All member states of the organization take part in the SCO summit in New Delhi. Iran, Belarus and Mongolia are invited as observers. Turkmenistan participates as a guest. The summit is also attended by the heads of two bodies of the organization - the Secretariat and the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure. The heads of six international and regional organizations - the UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA - are also invited.