TASHKENT - Prime ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states vowed here Friday to further boost the grouping’s internal cooperation to expand its global economic influence.

Attending the 12th SCO prime ministers’ meeting in the Uzbek capital, leaders of the six member states (China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) agreed in a joint communique issued after the meeting that SCO countries need to strengthen dialogue, expand fiscal and financial cooperation, and deepen regional trade and investment collaboration, in an effort to elevate the region’s status in the world economy.

The deep impact of the international financial crisis still haunts despite some traces of recovery, the prime ministers said, therefore, all members states need to take efforts to secure smooth social and economic growth, enhance cooperation and jointly address such social problems as unemployment, and eventually contribute to the task of steering the world economy back to the track of stable and sustained growth.

Hailing the work of the SCO Business Council and its Interbank Association, the prime ministers urged these institutions to actively collaborate with each other to advance the regional programs that seek to secure stable socioeconomic growth, including improving a safeguard mechanism for the financing of investment projects.Meanwhile, attendees of the summit agreed to intensify multilateral transportation cooperation, and take the development of an international transport corridor as a top priority.

The region’s potential in transit transport service should also be fully tapped to facilitate and increase the flow of commodities so as to attract more investment, the prime ministers added in the communique.

Moreover, SCO leaders vowed to further strengthen customs cooperation to facilitate trade while combating smuggling, and collectively address such challenges as natural disasters, technical accidents as well as disease control.

All sides also showed eagerness to expand cooperation in environmental protection, tourism and cultural areas, according to the communique.The SCO, an inter-governmental organization, was founded in China’s Shanghai on June 15, 2001. Aside from the six member states mentioned above, it also has Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as its observer states, and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners. (Xinhua)