BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The fourth summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opens in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent Thursday. The following is a brief history of theSCO summit.

    June 14-15, 2001 -- Presidents of China, Russia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan held the first SCO summit inShanghai. The six leaders issued a joint statement that announced Uzbekistan's participation into the "Shanghai Five", the launch ofthe SCO and the Shanghai treaty on crackdown on terrorism, separatism and extremism.

    June 7, 2002 -- The second SCO summit opened in Russia's secondlargest city of St. Petersburg. The one-day meeting closed after the six presidents signed three documents, the Charter of the SCO,an agreement on anti-terrorism agency in the region, and the presidents' declaration, to chart the organization's development goals and to institutionalize the cooperation.

    May 29, 2003 -- The heads of six SCO member states held their third summit in Moscow to discuss ways to meet challenges and strengthen cooperation in the region. At the summit, the leaders reached consensus on the institutionalization of the SCO and on some major international issues.

    A joint declaration was issued after the meeting, in which the leaders vowed to further develop a partnership comprehensively among the six countries to face new threats and challenges and expressed satisfaction over the progress made since the establishment of the SCO.

    The declaration also recognized the important role of the United Nations in world issues and asked for extensive cooperationacross the world in the fight against terrorism, drug and other cross-border crimes. Enditem