SHANGHAI, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's president Thursday called on member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to intensify efforts in the war on terror, and urged the formation of an SCO anti-drug body.
Speaking at the fifth annual summit of the six-member regional-security organization, Vladimir Putin said: "We need to develop the potential of our organization in the fight against terrorism and extremism. Defense agencies should be actively involved."
Putin said defense agencies had to work to meet targets agreed at an April meeting of SCO defense ministers, and added that the organization was ready to work closely on counter-terrorism measures with other nations and associations.
At their meeting in Beijing in late April, SCO defense ministers agreed to hold anti-terror exercises involving all the organization's members in Russia in 2007.
The SCO, celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The leaders of Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia, which currently have observer status in the group but have expressed interest in becoming full members, are also attending this year's summit.
Putin also called for more coordination in the fight against drug-trafficking, a particularly acute problem for the organization's four Central Asian nations, which are often used to transit heroin from troubled Afghanistan.
"The organization could develop a mechanism for coordinating the fight against drug trafficking," Putin said. "The agencies concerned could agree on this in the near future."
He added that the organization should make a large contribution to international anti-drug efforts.
