SCO summit Smaller Meeting kicks off

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members started a Smaller Meeting in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent on Friday.

Present at the meeting were Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and the delegate of Kyrgyzstan.

The meeting is expected to discuss issues concerning regional security and stability, inter-member economic cooperation.

The SCO rules of procedure and reports on the SCO performance within last year would also be possibly included in the meeting agenda.

After the Samller Meeting, the SCO members and observer nations will hold an extended meeting.

Joint documents will be signed after the meeting, which is to be followed by a press conference.

The SCO, which was founded in Shanghai in 2001, groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Source:Xinhua