RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PRAISES SHANGHAI CO-OPERATION ORGANISATION

ULAN BATOR, January 13th, 2003 (RIA Novosti) -- Russia welcomes Mongolia's growing interest in the activities of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said while delivering a lecture at the Mongolian State University on Tuesday.

(The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).

The formation of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation is highly important for the Asian region as a whole, said the Russian Foreign Minister currently on an official visit to Mongolia.

According to him, the SCO is being formed as a multi-functional mechanism for co-operation between six countries in the solution of common problems. This approach meets the interests of joint security at the regional and global levels, the Russian minister stressed.

The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation has already accomplished the organisational stage of its creation, Igor Ivanov noted.

"I am convinced that

mutually beneficial partnership between the SCO and Mongolia has a bright future," he added.