The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a six-member group that embraces Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has been keen to mint itself as a full-fledged international organization

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a six-member group that embraces Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has been keen to mint itself as a full-fledged international organization and a major power in Central Eurasia. Yet despite official pronouncements of unity, disagreements between member states remain. Notably, border disputes between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan seem to expose the SCO's weakness as a vehicle to promote regional security. As chief SCO diplomats gathered in the Russian capital on April 22-23, they pledged to address regional security concerns. "The SCO should play a more important role in safeguarding security in Central Asia," Kazakh Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev told the journalists in Moscow. The SCO members, notably Uzbekistan, which was recently shaken by terrorist attacks, prefer to emphasize the need for the development of SCO's anti-terrorism capabilities. Uzbek Foreign Minister Sadyk Safayev stated that SCO should prioritize the fight against international terrorism, separatism and extremism. Meanwhile, China and Russia are also both interested in seeing SCO develop a trade component. Russia stressed the need to improve regional trade, adding that Moscow accorded a special place to SCO among its trade partners. SCO states are now mulling a free trade agreement, Alexander Ivanov, director of the Asian department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, announced. The meeting was also aimed to prepare for the next SCO summit, due in Uzbek capital Tashkent in June. The summit is expected to inaugurate the SCO anti-terrorism center. Leaders of Afghanistan and Mongolia have been invited to attend the Tashkent summit as guests of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. When in June 2001 the informal Shanghai Five group of states became SCO, member states envisioned the organization as a counterweight to growing US economic and political influence. In June 2002, the leaders of the five states plus Uzbekistan agreed to base the SCO secretariat in Beijing, and to establish a joint-terrorism center.