China is an active member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). In June 2002, the SCO countries held their second summit at St. Petersburg in Russia. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan and Uzbekistan signed important documents including the Charter of the SCO and the Agreement on a Regional Anti-Terrorist Agency. In the process of reinforcing cooperation on security, the six countries gradually have promoted economic cooperation and expanded the regional and international influence of the SCO. The SCO is now an important force both in safeguarding regional stability and speeding up common development. On December 28, the NPC Standing Committee of the PRC sanctioned the SCO member countries’ Agreement on a Regional Anti-Terrorist Agency signed by President Jiang Zemin at St. Petersburg on June 7, 2002. China has kept frequent high-level contacts with the other five member countries. In May Tadzhikistani President Emomali Rakhmonov visited China followed in June by Kyrgyzstani President Askar Akayev, and in December by Kazakhstani President Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev.