On September 23, 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council attended the Third Meeting of Prime Ministers of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek and made an important speech at the meeting. The full text of his speech is as follows.

Respected Prime Minister Nikolay Tanayev,

Respected Colleagues,

I'm delighted to discuss with you the issue of development and cooperation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). I would like to thank the host, the Kyrghyz government for doing a large amount of work and making thoughtful arrangements for this meeting.

First of all, I would like to expound once again China's stance on the hostage-taking incident that took place in Beslan, Russia not long ago. The Chinese government severely condemns this cold-blooded terrorist act and would like to express profound condolences to the deceased and the most sincere solicitude to the victims and their families. China strongly supports the efforts of the Russian government to combat terrorism. This event shows once again that terrorism, separatism and extremism still remain the biggest threats to peace and stability of this region. The SCO members should further strengthen security cooperation with fighting the "three forces" as the main content on the multilateral and bilateral basis. Currently, various sides should promote the efficient operation of regional anti-terrorism institutions in an all-round way as soon as possible, enhance information exchanges and coordination actions between the law enforcement and security organs, establish communication and emergency mechanisms in case of great urgent events and give a role to the SCO in significant regional security issues. The Meeting of Secretaries of the SCO Security Meeting should become a major mechanism for planning security cooperation in an all-round manner.

Since its establishment over three years ago, the SCO has done a lot of effective work in improving its own development and pushing for regional cooperation and played an important role in deepening good-neighborly, friendly cooperation among members and promoting regional peace and development. With its great vitalities and huge potentials for development, The SCO has been attached greater and greater importance to by members. The image of peace, cooperation and openness it has displayed is drawing increasingly extensive attention from the international community.

With the Tashkent summit held this year as a mark, the SCO has entered a new stage featured by comprehensive cooperation. According to the consensus reached by the six heads of state, to adopt down-to-earth procedures and expand and deepen multilateral cooperation so as to bring more tangible benefits to members and seek more welfare for people of all the countries in this region is an objective requirement for the development of the SCO, as well as an urgent task faced by us all. The current priority is to push for regional economic cooperation in an all-round way.

We need to give priority to deepening economic cooperation while advancing in an orderly way and step by step. We should accelerate the facilitation of trade investments and create conditions for realizing the long-term objective of free flow of commodities, capital, services and technologies. We should keep transportation, communications, energy and agriculture as priority areas and start launching economic and technological cooperation, in particular infrastructure construction. A pressing matter of the moment is to accelerate the formulation of the Agreement on Facilitation of Multilateral Road Transportation. We should push for economic exchanges and cooperation between the SCO and countries in the world and international organizations and extensively use resources outside this region so as to add a driving force for its development.

We should keep closer economic links at various levels. Besides continuing to give a play to the official coordinating role of the meeting mechanism of leaders of economic departments, we should establish an industrial committee as soon as possible to promote direct contact and discussion of mutually beneficial cooperation among businesses of all parties so that these businesses can become a major force for economic cooperation. At the same time, different regions especially the frontier ones should be encouraged to utilize their own advantages, conduct economic exchanges and tap potentials for non-governmental economic cooperation. The SCO Secretariat should play an active part in this regard.

We should create conditions for economic cooperation through various channels. We should further improve the legal basis, coordinate economic polities and regulate economic exchanges in a bid to ensure the sound and orderly development of regional economic cooperation. We should strengthen information exchanges, open a website for the SCO regional economic cooperation and enhance the transparency of commercial information communication among members and economic laws and regulations. We should also launch investment cooperation, set up a development fund as soon as possible, improve the soft environment for investment, establish related cooperation mechanisms and take concrete steps to promote and protect investment.

We need to earnestly implement the outline on multilateral economic and trade cooperation, which is an important document for guiding and planning the SCO regional economic cooperation in an all-round manner. After the program on the measures of implementing the outline is approved at the meeting, relevant agencies, in particular the meeting mechanism of economic and trade ministers should try to implement the program in an down-to-earth manner, take it as the priority of the recent economic cooperation and strive for its taking effect as soon as possible.

To strengthen cooperation in the humanities area and promote mutual understanding and friendship among people of the member states is an important task of the SCO. We should extensively conduct and expand cooperation among all parties in culture, education, health, tourism and journalism. China supports the formulation of the Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Urgent Disaster Relief among Governments of the SCO Members and the enhancement of youth exchanges.

Dear Colleagues,

Since this year, China's economy has continued to maintain the good momentum of rapid but steady development, the GDP in the first half of this year has increased by 9.7% and the total import and export trade volume has maintained a growth margin of more than 20% in the past successive 23 months. China's development has promoted the world's development, while the development of China can't go without the development of the whole world. China has all along adhered to the road of development to peace and cooperation and committed itself to linking its own development to universal development and prosperity and common interests of people across the world.

China adopts the foreign policy of "treating its neighbors well and as partners" toward its neighboring countries, the essence of which is to live together with neighbors in peace and pursue common development. The Chinese government will as always attach importance to and take an active part in the SCO cooperation and promote regional economic cooperation in the most sincere and pragmatic manner while complying with the win-win principle of equality and mutual benefit.

I believe that the development of the SCO with "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for varied civilizations and pursuit of common development" as its purpose will surely bring about more opportunities and hopes to various members, this region and the international community at large and will surely make greater contributions to world peace, development and prosperity.

Thank you!