SCO to hold joint military drill in Tajikistan

BEIJING - The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members will hold a joint military exercise in Tajikistan in June, a Ministry of Defense spokesman said Thursday.

Spokesman Geng Yansheng said the drill, codenamed "Peace Mission 2012," will be held according to a cooperative agreement between the defense ministries of the SCO's member states.

Military experts from the member states held three rounds of consultations to plan the drill, with a meeting of defense ministers from SCO member states approving the plan in Beijing on April 24, Geng said.

"All preparatory work has been undertaken in an orderly fashion," he said.

Geng said the exercise is a "regular joint war game within the framework of the SCO."

The SCO, a regional organization founded in 2001, includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.