UFA, July 10. /TASS/. The presidency at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will go from Russia to Uzbekistan at the SCO summit on Friday.

After the summit, the sides are due to approve a strategy of the SCO development up to 2025, to sign a declaration outlining member states’ consolidated approaches to further development of the organization and key international and regional issues.

Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov said the member countries should improve trust for fighting international terrorism and extremism. At the summit on Thursday, he said "every country now is concerned about the developing threat from the international terrorism and extremism."

Press service of Uzbekistan’s president said he "attracted attention of the meeting participants to the importance of improving trust between countries in fighting those modern challenges."

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The SCO creation was proclaimed on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

At present five countries (Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan) have observer-nation status, and three more countries (Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka), dialogue partner status.

The SCO member states occupy a territory of around 30 million 189 thousand square kilometers, 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.

India and Pakistan officially applied for full SCO membership in September 2014. Iran also seeks full membership in the organization.

The SCO has established relations with the United Nations, where it is an observer at the General Assembly, with the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.