The prime ministers’ meeting, held in the Great Hall of the People, was chaired by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and attended by his counterparts from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives from the SCO observer nations and Afghanistan.

Wen Jiabao said that only by carrying out active cooperations in economic and trade, resources, agriculture, transportation and customs, etc, can the SCO member states achieve regional stability and common prosperity.

He also stressed that further economic cooperation would sharpen the competitive edge of member states and enhance the capability in preventing risks.

He added that confidence, determination and perseverance are the source for member states to shake off crisis and overcome difficulty.

Wen Jiabao also raised a seven-point proposal to enhance regional cooperation at the meeting.

The proposal includes deepening fiscal and financial cooperation, enhancing exchanges on financial and monetary policies, improving the trade settlement payment system and promoting international financial system reform

The proposal also involves promoting trade and investment security and facilitating trade and investment, formulating the Plan on Road Network Development Coordination and strengthen the management on port cooperation, as well as solving food quality and safety problems of the member states.

The proposal calls for accelerating the implementation of large economic and technological cooperation projects, carrying out construction of infrastructure projects including roads and railways, exploring new clean energies and developing new economic growth points.

The prime ministers of the member states agreed to establish a monitoring mechanism for the SCO economy to study the situation of all SCO member states’ economic and trade cooperation, service market, and mutual investment.

During the meeting, all premiers supported the increase of financial dialogue and agreed to improve investment environment and upgrade investment level.

They decided to speed up the opening of a special SCO account to resolve financing problems of major cooperation projects.

All prime ministers reached the consensus to facilitate trade, improve port infrastructure construction and enhance capability and efficiency of customs clearance.

The meeting also released a joint communique on furthering cooperation among the member states.

The joint communique reiterated that financial cooperation should be deepened. The financial sectors of the member states should enhance the information exchange to tackle the global financial crisis.

The next prime ministers’ meeting of the SCO member states is to be held in Kyrgyzstan in 2010.