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 development

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.

Pushing forward cooperation bears great significance

Strengthening economic and financial cooperation is an inevitable choice for the SCO members in order to meet the challenges of regional integration and globalization, experts said. It also is an important measure to cope with the financial crisis, experts said.

Through economic and financial cooperation, the SCO members can increase cohesion, broaden cooperation, heighten vitality, and strengthen interdependence.

Because China and Russia are emerging economies and the other SCO members are developing countries, they have little say in the international financial order, said Sheng Shiliang, of Xinhua's Research Center of International Affairs.

Therefore, he said, SCO members can join hands to cope with the crisis, raise their status and strengthen their voice by enhancing economic and financial cooperation.

Sheng said that in face of the crisis, SCO members, realizing the importance of jointly handling the upheaval and resolving those problems, have expressed hope for strengthening economic and financial cooperation.

Against the backdrop of the crisis, Sheng said, the SCO needs to redouble its efforts to strengthen member cooperation.

Wan Chengcai, standing director of the SCO Research Center in China, said the SCO needs to strengthen financial cooperation amongst members in order to meet the new needs of the organization's development.

China had provided a preferential credit of at least US$900 million for the SCO, Wan said. China had made and will continue to make contributions in promoting economic and financial cooperation in the organization, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 14, 2009)