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China pursued the fostering of good-neighborly friendship and
cooperation between member states of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) and pushing forward the development of the
Organisation's practical cooperation and building of mechanisms. In
July 2005, President Hu Jintao delivered an important speech at the
fifth SCO Summit in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. Heads of state
of the six member nations negotiated and worked out concrete plans
for deeper cooperation in regional security and economy, and
exchanged views on important international and regional issues.
They signed the Declaration of Heads of SCO Member States, and
resolved to press on with specific steps in strengthening unity,
fighting terrorism through concerted efforts and economic
development; observer status was granted to Pakistan, Iran and
India in order to extend the influence of SCO to the Middle East
and the Indian subcontinent, making SCO the organization with the
greatest geographical coverage on the Eurasian continent. In
October, Premier Wen Jiabao attended the SCO prime ministerial
meeting in Moscow.