Economic and trade ministers of the six members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are having their first meeting in Shanghai today and tomorrow.

The meeting is expected to set up an experts' team to do research on regional economic cooperation, make proposals on trade and investment facilitation, discuss ways to communicate on economic and trade laws and rules and develop an outline for multilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The organization was set up in June 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The first international organization to be established in China, it is named after the Chinese city where it was set up.

The organization represents an important step in China's efforts to confront economic globalization and to promote regional economic integration and cooperation with neighboring countries, said Wen Zaixing, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The organization is also expected to consolidate cooperative infrastructure in the region, help maintain stability and security and promote the common prosperity of member economies, he said.

The region has huge market potential with a population of 1.5 billion and a total gross domestic product of US$1,300 billion.

Wen said member economies of the organization are complementary, with Chinese textiles, household electrical appliances and telecommunications products being competitive and other members having advantages in metallurgy, the chemical industry, machinery, energy, raw materials, farming and astronautics.

(China Daily May 28, 2002)