The Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States was convened at Shanghai International Conference Center on May 15. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing hosted the meeting and Kazakh Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Kemelevich Tokayev, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Alikbek Jekshenkulov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov, and Uzbek Foreign Minister Elyar Ganiev took part in the meeting. SCO Secretary-General Zhang Deguang and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-terrorist Structure Viacheslav Kasymov also attended.

The meeting passed off in a businesslike, constructive atmosphere. The ministers discussed the ongoing preparations for the SCO Summit due to take place in June 2006 in Shanghai and adopted a series of resolutions.

The ministers noted that during the past year the SCO had done a significant and fruitful job on the fulfillment of the agreements reached at the Astana Summit in July 2005 on the development of multilateral cooperation in politics, economy, culture and humanitarian sphere. The upcoming summit is of great significance to the future development of the organization and the various parties will coordinate closely to ensure the success of the summit.

The ministers stated that there was a convergence in approaches to the burning international issues, and confirmed the intention to actively use the mechanism of inter-MFA consultations for coordination of positions on foreign policy matters in a rapidly changing situation in the region and the whole world.

The meeting adopted the 'Regulations on SCO Observer Mission at Presidential and/or Parliamentary Elections, as well as Referendums'.

The ministers hosted a joint press conference following the meeting.