During eight years of functioning, the SCO has become an influential international organization, playing an important role in forming the regional and global security architecture, Islam Karimov said at the meeting.

Over this period, a significant work on expansion and strengthening cooperation in political, economic, social and humanitarian spheres was carried out, and steps to implement the most urgent goals and tasks the organization is facing have been made, he added.

The President stressed that during Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the SCO, one of the structure’s priority activities will be developing measures to improve its acting mechanisms in accordance with the goals, tasks and principles of the SCO Charter.

At the meeting, priority directions and concrete plans of SCO activities for 2009-2010 were considered.

SCO General Secretary Bolat Nurgaliyev highly evaluated the proposals to increase the efficiency of the organization’s activity.

The participants also noted that the session of the SCO National Coordinators Council held in Tashkent on 10-11 September was successful and that they had an open and constructive exchange of opinions on the SCO development.