Discussions based on mutual trust and respect will strengthen economic cooperation and enhance further regional stability

With the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be held in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, a look back at the preceding 12 years will reveal that the SCO has progressed in leaps and bounds and made enormous achievements in the region and beyond.

Since it was founded 12 years ago, when Uzbekistan joined the members of the Shanghai Five China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan and the six heads of state signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the SCO has met with all kinds of interference, but it has successfully overcome them all. The cooperation among its member states, which started with security issues, has gradually expanded to encompass politics, the economy and culture. In doing so the organization has become an exemplary model of cooperation in the dawning of a new era of international relations.