Yesterday's inauguration of the secretariat of the six-member Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) in Beijing indicates the regional and inter-governmental group has embarked on a full-fledged effort aimed at establishing a greater role in securing regional peace and co-operation.

The SCO's Counter-Terrorism Regional Structure will also be established soon in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.

With the body's two permanent organs being put into full operation, the SCO, which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has fulfilled its endeavour in organizational and institutional construction, laying a solid foundation for broadened co-operation in fields ranging from security to economy and trade.

The SCO was formally founded in June 2001 in Shanghai when Uzbekistan joined the existing Shanghai Five which had been meeting annually since 1996.

Covering 60 per cent of the territory of Eurasia and home to one fifth of the world's population, the SCO has reshaped the landscape of the continents"geopolitics ever since its formation and is exerting an increasingly important influence on regional and international affairs.

With a series of meetings among leaders and agreements signed between the governments in these years, the body has formed a full-grown practice in tuning the tones of its member states on matters concerning regional and international development and peace.

Today, the regional body has become an active force contributing to neighbourly collaboration and regional security and stability as well as promoting world peace and development.

As the first international organization proposing and blueprinting anti-terrorism co-operation, the SCO has been making strenuous efforts to safeguard regional security and stability. At the 2001 Shanghai summit, leaders of the six nations declared an all-out war against terrorism, separatism and extremism. Those three forces, backed by the Taliban regime and the al-Qaida network, have plagued some parts of Eurasia for decades, threatening the livelihood of the people as well as regional security and peace.

The determination and concrete efforts demonstrated by the leaders of the member states in fighting terrorism underlines the fact the organization is both responsible and effective in making contributions to the international anti-terror campaign.

Economic co-operation, on the other hand, has become the key scope for co-operation among SCO members, serving as an important catalyst for the strengthening and deepening of the body's mutually beneficial goals.

That trend is in line with the backdrop of economic globalization and regional integration.

Despite the ever-changing world climate, the SCO has secured a healthy and steady development momentum. This is because it sets its targets and principles in conformity with the trend of the times.

We therefore have every reason to believe that under the guidance of the "Shanghai spirit'' that features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and seeking common development, the SCO will continue to work for the greater benefit of the region and the world at large.

(China Daily 01/16/2004 page6)