Beijing, 6-7 June 2012

On 6-7 June 2012, the Meeting of the Council of the Heads of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Beijing. President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan, President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China, President Almazbek Atambayev of the Kyrgyz Republic, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, President Emomalii Rahmon of the Republic of Tajikistan and President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan attended the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China.

SCO Secretary-General Muratbek Sansyzbayevich Imanaliev and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RCTS) Dzhenisbek Djumanbekov attended the meeting.

The heads of delegations from the SCO observer states i.e. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran, President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of Mongolia, President Asif Ali Zardari of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Minister of External Affairs S. M. Krishna of the Republic of India, as well as guests of the host state i.e. President Hamid Karzai of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan attended the meeting and delivered statements.

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Miroslav Jenca, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergei Lebedev, Secretary General of the Eurasian Economic Community Tair Mansurov and Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Nikolai Bordyuzha also attended the meeting.

The heads of state exchanged views on the international and regional situations, major international and regional issues and outlook of the future development of the SCO.

The heads of state stated that the establishment and growth of the SCO gave a strong push to regional cooperation, enhanced good-neighborliness and mutual trust and brought about the harmonious coexistence of SCO member states.

Comments by the member states on the work of the SCO and their positions and approaches regarding how to further improve practical cooperation have been incorporated into the Declaration of the Heads of State of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Building a Region of Lasting Peace and Common Prosperity. In the declaration, the member states stated their shared vision for establishing a just, democratic and multi-polar world architecture and developing state-to-state relations on that basis. They expressed the resolve to build an indivisible world security space and the desire to pursue a path of innovation and sustainable development suited to their national circumstances and to promote global progress with their own development. They also spelled out specific steps for international cooperation towards these goals.

The heads of state approved the Strategic Plan for the Medium-term Development of the SCO. They stated that the SCO is an open and harmonious regional cooperation organization running steadily on a smooth and effective institutional basis, and it is conducive to enhancing the good-neighborliness and common prosperity of the member states.

The heads of state heard and approved the report on the work of the SCO delivered by the Secretary-General and the report on the work of the RCTS delivered by the RCTS Council.

Over the past year, the SCO held the Meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the member states (St. Petersburg, 7 November 2011), the meeting of heads of departments responsible for the prevention and elimination of emergency events (Dushanbe, 28 September 2011), the meeting of economic and trade ministers (Dushanbe, 26 October 2011), the meeting of transportation ministers (Moscow, 28 October 2011), the meeting of heads of counter-narcotics agencies (Beijing, 2 April 2012), the meeting of secretaries of security councils (Beijing, 12 April 2012), the meeting of heads of supreme courts (Beijing, 23-25 April 2012), the meeting of heads of senior audit institutions (Shanghai, 23-24 April 2012), the meeting of defense ministers (24 April 2012), the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Beijing, 11 May 2012), a session of the SCO Forum (Almaty, 23-24 April 2012), the meeting of ministers of finance and heads of central (national) banks (Beijing, 16-17 May 2012), the meeting of culture ministers (Beijing, 4-7 June 2012) and the prosecutors general conference (Dushanbe, 5-6 June 2012).

Since the meeting commemorating the 10th anniversary of the founding of the SCO, the member states have worked extensively in political, economic, cultural and other areas of cooperation and achieved a series of concrete outcomes.

The heads of state noted that as the threats of terrorism, separatism, extremism, illegal narcotics trafficking and transnational organized crimes became more acute and turmoil in some parts of the world persisted, to conduct active political and diplomatic work on crisis early-warning and emergency response and engage in security cooperation remains a highly urgent task.

The heads of state approved the revised version of the SCO Regulations on Political and Diplomatic Measures and Mechanism of Response to Events Jeopardizing Regional Peace, Security and Stability and the Programme of Cooperation in the Field of Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism for 2013-2015, which broadened the legal basis for security cooperation among the member states.

The heads of state stressed the importance of cooperation among member states in safeguarding international information security and pointed out the need to prevent information and communication technologies from being used to undermine world peace, stability and security and to continue to promote the formulation of an "International Code of Conduct for Information Security" under the framework of the United Nations.

The heads of state supported resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through political and diplomatic means.

The heads of state pointed out that the strengthening of missile defense by a country or group of countries in a unilateral and unrestrained manner in disregard of the legitimate interests of other countries will cause harm to international security and global strategic stability. The relevant issue must be addressed by all countries concerned through political and diplomatic efforts.

The heads of state noted the important progress made in regional economic cooperation and the need to further promote trade and investment facilitation, strengthen economic and technical cooperation in non-resources fields, fight goods smuggling and protect intellectual property right.

The heads of state emphasized the need to continue to take concrete measures to develop multilateral economic and financial cooperation in the region. They pointed out that the mechanism of the meeting of ministers of finance and heads of central (national) banks plays an important role in helping countries in the organization share experience on safeguarding economic and financial stability and advance their fiscal and financial cooperation.

The heads of state commended the work that has been done on setting up the SCO Development Fund (Special Account) and SCO Development Bank, and instructed that the above-mentioned work be continued and completed as soon as possible.

The parties expressed their readiness to safeguard energy security in the SCO region.

The heads of state stressed that the Agreement among the Governments of the SCO Member States on Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture signed in June 2010 must take effect as soon as possible so as to raise the efficiency of agricultural cooperation.

The heads of state maintained that it is important to strengthen SCO cooperation in culture, science, technology, innovation, tourism and health and ensure sound sanitation and epidemic control in the SCO region.

The member states pointed out that the success of activities for the SCO Year of Good-neighborly Friendship has deepened the friendship and cooperation among the member states.

The heads of state spoke highly of the work of the SCO Secretariat and the RCTS, and believed that they provided effective safeguards for the smooth operation of the SCO, the Business Council and the Interbank Consortium and the SCO Forum, enabling them to play an important role in tapping into the potential of economic and academic cooperation.

The heads of state maintained that given the evolving international situation and increase in SCO activities, it is necessary for the parties and permanent bodies of the SCO to enhance the publicity campaign for SCO activities to foster an objective and positive image of the organization.

The SCO member states supported greater international coordination and stronger cooperation with the observer states, dialogue partners and international and regional organizations such as the United Nations and its specialized agencies, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasia Economic Community.

The member states took note of the wish of the relevant countries to join the SCO. The member states will continue to have consultations on the legal, fiscal and administrative conditions for membership expansion and work for early completion of the work on the basis of consensus.

The member states will continue to follow the principle of expanding the SCO's international exchanges and carry out cooperation with other multilateral organizations and mechanisms.

The heads of state decided to give the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan the status of SCO observer state and the Republic of Turkey the status of SCO dialogue partner.

The heads of state decided to appoint Mr. Dmitry Mezentsev (Russian Federation) Secretary-General of the SCO and Mr. Zhang Xinfeng (the People's Republic of China) Director of the Executive Committee of the RCTS. Their terms will be from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2015.

The heads of state applauded the work of China during its presidency of the organization and expressed appreciation to the Chinese side for the warm hospitality during the Beijing Summit.

In accordance with the SCO Charter, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan will hold the SCO presidency in the next stage. The next meeting of the Council of the Heads of the SCO Member States will take place in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in 2013.