BEIJING, December 12. /TASS/. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is responding to challenges that are common to all humankind, SCO Deputy Secretary General Grigory Logvinov stated at a meeting with the organization's press club.

"The SCO is an organization for cooperation, not opposition to any specific countries. Our organization is countering general threats and challenges that are common to all humankind," Logvinov said. He pointed out that the SCO does not possess the characteristics of a military bloc or defense alliance.

Logvinov emphasized that cooperation between the defense ministries and armed forces of the SCO member states "has a distinct anti-terrorist focus." "This is evident in the scenarios of those military exercises conducted within the SCO framework," he added.

Logvinov stated that, "within the organization, relations between states are built on the basis of mutual respect and full equality, rejection of military pressure and the absence of a hierarchy between leading and subordinate states." According to him, the desire of more countries around the world to join the SCO "shows that these principles enjoy deep, widespread demand in the contemporary world."

Founded in 2001, the SCO is an intergovernmental organization that currently brings together India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. At the most recent SCO summit in New Delhi in June, Belarus signed a memorandum of commitment in order to obtain the status of a member state of the organization. In total, the SCO family, which includes dialogue partners and observers, consists of 26 countries.