DUSHANBE, September 17, 2011, Asia-Plus -- A Tajik delegation will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Youth Forum that will take place at the Kyrgyz resort town of Cholpon-Ata from September 18-21, according to the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism under the Government of Tajikistan.

Kabirjon Jourayev, the deputy head of the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism, says representatives from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and China are participating in the forum, which is expected to consider issues related to prevention of drug addiction among youth within the SCO, youth and free entrepreneurship, intercultural dialogue and exchange of experience between young generations of the SCO member nations.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization or SCO is an intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai 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.