The heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) uphold that the strengthening of missile defense by a country or group of countries in a unilateral and unrestrained manner in disregard of the legitimate interests of other countries will cause harm to international security and global strategic stability.

The leaders expressed the agreement in a press communique released?Thursday after the SCO summit in Beijing.

The communique said the relevant issue "must be addressed by all countries concerned through political and diplomatic efforts."

The two-day summit groups Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajikistan's President Emomalii Rahmon and Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov.