Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a serious multi-dimensional regional group, whose objectives seem attractive for many countries in the region.
"The SCO is an international organization, which was came into existence in a natural way in mid 1990s, due to the start of work to settle border issues of Russia, China and several former Soviet republics - Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan," the Russian head of state said in an interview to the Mir channel.
"After this work was successfully completed and produced good practical results, we all came to a conclusion that this format should not just be preserved, it should receive a new status, the status of an organization tasked with developing relations in various spheres," TASS cited Putin as saying.
The agenda of the SCO summit, to take place in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek on June 13-14, includes about two dozens of issues, including setting up the Bank of SCO and joint measures to counter modern challenges and threats.
