SCO PMs vow to strengthen co-op in customs, agriculture

TASHKENT, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Prime ministers of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) signed here Friday a joint communique, vowing to strengthen cooperation in customs, agriculture, culture and education.
The heads of government welcomed the signing of the agreement on customs cooperation between the SCO member states and instructed customs working groups to continue to create conditions for unified customs clearance, the completion of administrative and transport procedures and mutual recognition of customs documents, said the communique.
They maintained that member states should activate and develop agricultural cooperation and tap the potentials of the Business Council of the SCO during the process, the communique added.
On the culture field, the leaders noted that the signing of the inter-governmental agreement on cultural cooperation between the SCO member states is of great significance and instructed the SCO secretariat and culture expert groups to put forward concrete proposals on implementing the agreement.
They also instructed education expert groups to accelerate consultations on measures for implementing the inter-governmental agreement on educational cooperation between the SCO member states signed on June 15, 2006.
They welcomed the start of health cooperation and instructed the secretariat of the SCO and relevant experts to work out plans to help set priorities for cooperation in this field, the communique said.
The prime ministers speak highly of the just initiated tourism cooperation between the SCO member states, maintaining that consultations on relevant plans should be completed, the communique noted.
The heads of government decided to hold the next meeting of Prime Ministers of the Member States of the SCO in Kazakhstan in 2008.
The six leaders attending the meeting are Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Kyrgyz Acting Prime Minister Almaz Atambayev, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov and Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov.
Representatives from the four SCO observer nations, Pakistan, Mongolia, Iran and India, also attended the meeting.