MOSCOW, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- As the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has successfully coordinated anti-terror efforts and upheld regional security, the bloc needs to do more to step up economic cooperation among its members, a leading Russian scholar has said.
Established in 2001, the SCO is a regional political, economic and security organization that has China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members.
India and Pakistan signed the SCO's Memorandum of Obligations in June, kick-starting the process of their accession into the group, which also has a number of observers and dialogue partners.
The SCO has now set up an efficient regional anti-terror structure in the Uzbek capital city of Tashkent, which has coordinated a series of regular training exercises and built up a great level of trust among its members, Alexander Lukin, director of the Center for East Asian and SCO studies at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
As some SCO member states are less experienced in the struggle against terrorism, he noted, frequent joint drills have played an important role in mutual learning and transfer of experience, and have helped strengthen regional security.
As to economic cooperation, however, the expert pointed out that more needs to be done.
Lukin said that although a number of documents on the promotion of economic development within the SCO have been adopted, the mechanism for funding joint projects is still not enough.
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