SCO pays much attention to economic, financial cooperation

BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held in Russia's Ural city of Yekaterinburg on June 15.

Since the establishment of the SCO in 2001, its members have made achievement in cooperation in the political, security, economic and financial fields.

Experts believe that amidst the current financial crisis, strengthening economic and financial cooperation among SCO member states helps to enrich cooperation within the organization's framework.

ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL COOPERATION KEEPS DEVELOPING

The SCO member states _ China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan _ adopted a program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation in 2003. Since then, cooperation in security and economic matters has been gradually established, with economic cooperation gaining an increasingly important influence.

In October 2005, the SCO banks consortium was established, indicating the start of financial cooperation among the member states.

Since then, the members have been actively cooperating by offering financial support to key projects, making the consortium an important platform to push for regional cooperation within the SCO.

In the financial sector, the China Banking Regulatory Commission has signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral supervision cooperation with Central Asian member states. The central banks of the SCO members have also signed financial cooperation treaties.

Beijing and Moscow have held several financial cooperation forums, the two central banks have signed multiple bilateral agreements, and the commercial banks of the two countries have established broader business ties.

To further convenience trade among its member states, the SCO has also established professional work teams to control the research and coordination of SCO members in the areas of quality supervision, E-commerce and investment promotion.