MOSCOW - The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) needs to step up efforts to prevent the spread of terrorism at an early stage in Central Asia (CA), a Russian expert said.

"A key task is to strengthen the structures inside the SCO mechanism related to anti-terror activities, including (operation of) anti-terror centers and security services, and exchange of information between member states," Azhdar Kurtov, chief editor of the National Strategy Issues journal and an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic studies, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

It will help identify terrorist suspects at an early stage, and block their communication channels and sources of financing recruitment, the expert added.

Since its founding in 2001, the SCO has conducted all-round cooperation concerning security.

To ensure regional security, the bloc has given priority to the fight against the "three evil forces" -- terrorism, separatism, and extremism -- and founded the SCO's Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RCTS) in 2004.

The danger of terrorism is high is Central Asia, which is rich in mineral resources and is therefore attractive to extremists, Kurtov said.

Several elements have made the region a fertile land for recruiting militants, where Muslims constitute a majority of the population, who might be the object of active propaganda of terrorism, he believed. (Xinhua)