Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2012 concluded in Beijing

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 2012 concluded in Beijing on 7 June 2012, with member states agreeing to further cooperation in a variety of fields. Chinese President Hu Jin Tao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai wer among the top leaders who attended the summit.

Leaders and officials from the four SCO observer countries of Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India were also present at the summit. Leaders across the participating nations held a broader discussion over the issues like Afghanistan crisis and the Iranian nuclear programme.

The member states of the SCO adopted 10 agreements on the concluding day of the summit. The agreement includes the Declaration on Building a Region with Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity, the Strategic Plan for the Medium-Term Development of the SCO, and the SCO Regulations on Political and Diplomatic Measures and Mechanism of Response to Events Jeopardizing Regional Peace, Security and Stability. The SCO also decided to grant Afghanistan observer status and accept Turkey as a dialogue partner.

Chinese President Hu Jintao offered a 10 billion U.S. dollars loan to the SCO which will be used be used to promote the development of SCO members.

The SCO, an intergovernmental mutual security organization, was founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001. The group has six full time members at present namely China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The Central Asian nation Kyrgyzstan will host the 2013 summit of SCO.