(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-16 07:05

June 14-15, 2001: Heads of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - the countries that jointly developed the "Shanghai Five" mechanism to strengthen trust and facilitate disarmament in their border regions in 1996 - and the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan decide in Shanghai to lift the mechanism to a higher level.

They sign the Declaration on Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and declare the birth of a new regional body: the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

They also sign "the Shanghai convention to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism".

September 13-14, 2001: The heads of governments of SCO member states meet for the first time in Almaty in Kazakhstan.

They officially declare the establishment of regular meetings of heads of governments' mechanism within the SCO framework.

June 7, 2002: The second SCO summit is held in St Petersburg, Russia. "The Charter of Shanghai Cooperation Organization" is adopted, laying out the goals, principles and basic directions of SCO cooperation.

May 28-29, 2003: The third SCO summit is held in Moscow. It passes a number of regulations and decisions to standardize the functioning of the organization's internal mechanism.

September 19, 2003: The Charter of Shanghai Cooperation Organization takes effect officially.

September 23, 2003: Heads of governments of SCO member states meet in Beijing. "The Program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation among SCO member states" is signed and the organization's first budget, for 2004, approved.

January 15, 2004: SCO Secretariat opens in Beijing.

June 17, 2004: The fourth SCO summit is held in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. Official ceremony of the establishment of SCO regional anti-terrorist structure is held. Mongolia becomes first SCO observer state.

July 5, 2005: The fifth SCO summit is held in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. The heads of SCO member states issue a declaration. Pakistan, Iran and India become SCO observers states.

June 15, 2006: The sixth annual meeting of the heads of SCO member states is held in Shanghai. The member states issue a joint communiqu reiterating their determination to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism.

September 15, 2006: A meeting of heads of governments of SCO member states takes place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. SCO issues a joint communiqu emphasizing stability in the region and further boosting of economic cooperation within the SCO framework.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/16/2007 page2)