A meeting of the prime ministers of the SCO member countries issued a joint declaration on the status quo of and prospects for the pragmatic cooperation within the organization in such fields as politics, economy and trade, and culture.

Leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan met in the Kazakh capital, Astana, Thursday.

They agreed to implement the consensus reached at the Dushanbe summit in August in a bid to promote the steady and sustained development of multilateral cooperation within the organization, the report said.

It has been decided to hold a meeting of leading officials in charge of disaster relief in the first half of 2009.

The prime ministers proposed the formation of an economic forum of major business leaders from member states.

The SCO is an inter-governmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001.