In his words, the beginning of the work of the SCO Secretariat marks a qualitatively new stage in the SCO life - its operation as a full-fledged international organization with its functional mechanisms, staff and budget.
"The secretariat is called upon to become a somewhat administrative core of the SCO, ensuring coordination of cooperation in the framework of the organization on different directions. Former PRC Ambassador to Russia Zhang Deguang - an experienced, highly professional diplomat - heads the Secretariat. A Russian representative is among his three deputies," the Russian foreign ministry spokesman said.
He noted organizational construction of the SCO was made in unprecedentedly short terms for work of such a scale. "Only two and a half years have passed since the moment of declaration in Shanghai of a decision to create the Organization to the launch of its working mechanisms," Yakovenko said.
"Such a high 'efficiency factor' evidently testifies to the decisive mood of all founding states to make the SCO an efficient mechanism of equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of security and development of the six countries, stability in the region and beyond its borders," Yakovenko stressed.
The SCO includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
