Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) agreed on Friday to set up a special institute to intensify fight against cross-border drug crimes.

Drug control on the border areas needs to be strengthened and an intelligence exchange mechanism needs to be established, said delegates at the symposium including members of SCO and countries which attended as observer states such as Pakistan. Successful experiences of dealing with drug crimes were also shared.

The SCO needs to take effective measures to fight terrorism by cutting off its financing from drug trafficking, said participants, highlighting that the production and trafficking of narcotics and mental drugs was one of the most important financing channels of international terrorist groups.

Dubbed a new model for regional cooperation, the SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, aiming to promote regional security and fight terrorism.

The permanent members of the SCO are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its four observer states are Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran.

The SCO is scheduled to hold a summit in Shanghai in mid-June. It is also going to hold a meeting for defense ministers later this month and a meeting for foreign ministers in mid-May, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2006)