Uzbek President signs SCO treaty on friendship

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has signed a long-term treaty on friendship with the other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), local media reported Thusday.

The friendship, good-neighborliness and cooperation treaty among the member states of the regional bloc, namely China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, was ratified by the lower house on Aug. 8 and approved by the Senate on Aug. 30.

The pact, inked in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in August 2007, is aimed at developing a strategic partnership among the SCO members in a bid to enhance peace, security and stability, expand economic cooperation and promote contacts in culture, education, healthcare and science.

The SCO, founded in Shanghai in 2001, focuses on security and economic issues of the region, as well as social projects.

Editor: Chen Zhi