SCO leaders warn against monopolistic world order (1st Lead)

Aug 16, 2007, 9:59 GMT

Bishkek - Leaders of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), including world powers Russia and China, warned Thursday against any attempt to impose a monopolistic world order, a message which analysts took to be meant for Washington.

In a final declaration at their summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, they warned that unilateral actions were not adequate to solving existing problems.

The SCO consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

According to Interfax, the group said they had agreed to create a common structure in order to be able to respond to threats to peace, stability and security. Details of what this structure would be were not immediately divulged.

The declaration warning against a monopolistic world order was taken by analysts as meant for Washington and the Bush administration's often unilateralist, go-it-alone approach to international issues.

At the summit earlier Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he saw agreement on security policies and the fight against terrorism as the most important goal of the SCO meeting.

The main task of the summit should be 'the elimination of terrorism, separatism and extremism,' Putin told journalists in Bishkek before the meeting.

The SCO was founded in 2001 as a security-led forum but has since expanded into other areas of cooperation.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said the summit would also focus on economic cooperation between the six countries.

Indirect criticism of the United States came from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who attended the CSO parley as an observer, amid Iran's wish to become a member of the group.

Ahmadinejad blasted the US missile defence plans as a threat to a large part of Asia. He said that planned system, generally believed to be aimed at destroying missiles fired from Iran, threatens not just one country but an entire continent.

'Unfortunately some countries have become accustomed to speak from a position of force and threat,' Ahmadinejad said without naming the US directly.

The Iranian leader also said that the US invasion of Iraq had brought 'violent difficulties and great misfortune' to the people of the region.