[Title] Joint Communiqué Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

A regular meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (hereinafter referred to as the SCO and/or the Organization) was held on October 14, 2009 in Beijing. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister K. Masimov of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Premier of the State Council Wen Jiabao of the People's Republic of China, Prime Minister I. Chudinov of the Kyrgyz Republic, Chairman of the Government V. Putin of the Russian Federation, Prime Minister A. Akilov of the Republic of Tajikistan and Prime Minister S. Mirziyoev of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Premier of the State Council Wen Jiabao of the People's Republic of China chaired the meeting.

The SCO Secretary-General B. Nurgaliev and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure M. Subanov participated in the meeting.

The meeting was attended and addressed by the representatives of the SCO observer states – Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Republic of India M. Deora, First Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran M. Rahimi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Mongolia S. Batbold and Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Y. Gilani as well as Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan K. Khalili, as the guest of the host.

Chairman Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China met with heads of the member states’ delegations.

In a friendly and constructive atmosphere, the heads of government reviewed the current international political and economic environment and assessed existing opportunities and challenges. A detail discussion was held on the ways of deepening practical cooperation in various fields, as well as of jointly confronting the global financial economic crisis. Following the exchange of views, mutual understanding has been reached on a wide range of issues.

1. The heads of government noted with satisfaction that since the previous meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO Member States (CHG) held on October 30 2008, in Astana, SCO cooperation among the member states in political, economic and cultural fields had been marked by steady progress. Friendship, good-neighborly relationships, mutual trust and multifaceted collaboration had continued to develop.

Under the current global and regional situation and in order to ensure SCO steady development and promotion of common interests of the member states, the parties underlined the importance of consistent implementation of the Treaty on Long-term Good-neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation among the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization signed on August 16, 2007 and of the agreements of Yekaterinburg summit (June 15-16, 2009).

2. The heads of government noted that the SCO member states had been taking effective measures to ensure the stability of their national economies. In order to effectively confront the global financial and economic crisis, an urgent task is to improve their resistance to emerging threats and risks, as well as strengthen the economic component of the Organization's activities, inter alia, through the promotion of regional development and implementation of the Plan of Actions in support of the implementation of the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation of the SCO member states.

A timely step was the adoption by this CHG meeting of the Joint Initiative on intensified multilateral economic cooperation to address the impacts of the global financial economic crisis and ensure further economic development of the SCO member states.

Exchanges of the business communities of the member states are meant to play a growing role in boosting trade, economic and investment cooperation in the SCO framework. The meeting highly rated the outcome of the Trade and Industry Forum held in Beijing on the sidelines of the CHG meeting.

3. The meeting acknowledged the need to increase financial cooperation in the framework of the Organization. In accordance with the agreements of Yekaterinburg Summit, financial departments have been instructed to increase sharing of information on the issues of addressing the consequences of the global financial economic crisis. The parties will review the feasibility of holding a meeting of finance ministers and heads of central banks.

The relevant institutions of the SCO member states, jointly with the Council of National Coordinators, have been instructed to expedite the agreement on the Main Principles of Formation and Management of the SCO Special Account.

4. The heads of government emphasized the role of the SCO Business Council and the Interbank Consortium as an important platform for SCO economic and financial cooperation and in generating proposals regarding implementation of promising joint regional projects.

5. The heads of government have instructed the relevant ministries and departments to take the necessary measures for more effective use of the existing transit potential of the SCO member states, further improvement of the transport infrastructure, and strengthening the legal framework for transport cooperation.

6. The heads of government called the earliest possible launch of the pilot projects “SCO information superhighway” and “Electronic transnational cooperation based on electronic digital signature”.

7. Having underlined the importance of SCO agricultural cooperation, the heads of government have instructed gave to accelerate preparations for the first meeting of ministers of agriculture and review of the draft Agreement between the governments of the SCO member states on cooperation in this field.

8. The heads of government have reaffirmed that under current conditions cooperation in science and technology is contributing to enhancing the capacity of the SCO member states to confront global challenges and threats. In this regard, of special importance are agreed measures for drafting and implementing joint science and technology programs and projects in priority areas of common interest such as science, technologies and innovations. The first meeting of heads of science and technology ministries and departments of the SCO member states is meant to play an important role in shaping common approaches.

9. Aiming to promote regional trade and economic cooperation, the heads of government spoke in favor of further deepening of customs cooperation, simplified trading procedures, increased processing and effectiveness of border posts, optimized border facilities.

10. The parties acknowledged the need to enhance cooperation in the field of application of standards, metrology, technical regulations, conformity evaluation, check and control procedures, coordination and settlement of the issues of safety and quality of goods in regional trade, facilitation of the increased commodity turnover.

11. Aiming to enhance emergency response capacity, the heads of government noted the need to take agreed measures in order to jointly address the threats of natural and manmade disasters.

12. Having positively rated the achievements of social and cultural cooperation, the heads of government support further strengthening and improvement of its mechanisms. The meeting has acknowledged, inter alia, the expediency of continued practice of holding regular for a of university rectors and education weeks of the SCO member states.

13. Cooperation in healthcare, partnerships among relevant medical institutions of the SCO member states, strengthened joint preventive measures to combat communicable diseases are of great importance. In this regard, the meeting noted the significance of the Joint Statement on combating communicable diseases in the SCO region, adopted by this CHG meeting.

14. Noting the steady progress in practical cooperation among the SCO member and observer states, the heads of government welcome participation by the observer states and dialogue partners in the SCO economic and cultural cooperation in order to promote collective development and prosperity in the region.

15. The heads of government approved the Report of the SCO Secretariat on the implementation progress of the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation among the SCO Member States.

The meeting also reviewed a series of issues related to financial and organizational aspects of the SCO permanent bodies’ operation and approved the budget of the Organization for 2010.

At the meeting, authorized representatives of the SCO member states signed the Protocol between the customs departments of the SCO member states on cooperation on training and advanced training of customs officers.

The heads of government highly appreciated the way the SCO CHG meeting was organized and held and expressed gratitude to the Chinese side for its hospitality.

The next meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the SCO Member States will be held in 2010 in the Kyrgyz Republic.