More problems than before to top agenda of SCO summit in Astana.

13/6 Tass 45

ASTANA, June 13 (Itar-Tass) - Leaders of the member-states of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization will meet in Astana on June 15 to
discuss a wider range of issues than ever before, SCO director-general
Muratbek Imanaliyev said on Monday.
"Presidents will discuss problems related to trade, economic,
scientific and technical cooperation among the countries," he said after
the meeting between Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov and
national coordinators of the SCO member-states.
"I am deeply confident that our leaders will put forward interesting
and useful ideas and recommendations. They will also focus on security
issues, and the context and scope of discussions in this sector will be
rather extensive. I would say that there will a wider range of problems on
the agenda than ever before," he said.
Imanaliyev named the fundamental documents that should be signed at
the summit.
"First, this is the most important political document - the Astana
declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that was developed
first of all through efforts of the council of national coordinators and a
large group of experts representing different agencies and departments of
the SCO member-states," he said.
Another important document to be signed at the summit is the SCO
anti-drug strategy. "I will make a reference to the UN report that
assesses the world drug situation and it is absolutely clear for SCO
member-states that now we should expand and intensify our work on this
track," he said.
Moreover, a memorandum of the obligations of membership applicants is
expected to be signed.
"This document will continue our juridical and political efforts that
were launched in Tashkent after a decree on membership applicants was
signed. The process of expanding our organization is not easy and
everything is not as simple as it may seem. But we are taking maximum
efforts first of all to strengthen an international legal and political
groundwork for accepting new members to our organization," the SCO
director-general said.
Health ministers of the SCO member-states will also sign an agreement
that "will give a fresh impetus to cooperation." "The talk is not only
about health ministries, but also concrete medical institutions and
prevention organizations of SCO member-states," he said.
Imanaliyev expressed confidence that "the summit in Astana will be a
success." He especially noted that "Kazakhstan's SCO presidency receives
broad media coverage."