Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Summit to Focus on Regional Security

Regional security issues will top the agenda at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting being held June 15-16. Member states are expected to sign a joint declaration on combating terrorism with a particular focus on Afghanistan, says Andrei Nesterenko, the spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The presidents of the six SCO states will sign a convention against terrorism [ . . . ] developing the regulatory framework of cooperation in this priority for the area. Particular attention will be paid to cooperation in the Afghan track, in particular, the action plan of SCO Member States and Afghanistan to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, adopted at a special conference under the auspices of the SCO on Afghanistan in Moscow," media reports quote him as saying on June 12.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will attend the SCO meeting. He and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev will meet on the sidelines of the summit to discuss the continuing role of Manas, the US air base near Bishkek. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will also attend the Yekaterinburg summit, RIA Novosti reports.