DUSHANBE, September 3, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- An upward tendency in economic cooperation between member nations o the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is to be observed despite effects of the global financial crisis, the SCO Deputy Secretary General Sherali Jononov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, Mr. Sun Yunfu, the head of the Europe Department under China’s Ministry of Commerce, noted at a press conference in Beijing that regional economic cooperation is a significant component of cooperation within the SCO and China plays an important role in this sphere.

“Chinese official noted that his country will expand cooperation will member nations of the Organization in sectors like transport, communications, infrastructural construction, agriculture, etc in the future,” said Jononov, “According to Sun Yunfu, China’s trade with five member nations of the SCO reached 85.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.  However, the global financial crisis has resulted China’s trade with the SCO states falling more than 30 percent this year.  The SCO member nations are currently taking efforts to curb trade decline.”

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.

Several states, including India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan, participate as observers.  Some of them have expressed interest in becoming full members in the future.

In 2008, the position of dialogue partner was created in accordance with Article 14 of the SCO Charter of June 7, 2002. This article regards dialogue partner as a state or an organization who shares the goals and principles of the SCO and wishes to establish relations of equal mutually beneficial partnership with the Organization. Sri Lanka and Belarus were granted dialogue partner status in the SCO at the group’s 2009 summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Afghanistan, while not an observer, is currently part of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group.  The contact group was established in November 2005, and serves as a mechanism for SCO member states to jointly contribute to reconstruction and stability in Afghanistan.