TASHKENT, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Leaders of the six member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) started their summit meeting here Thursday to decide the organization's future direction and priorities of pragmatic cooperation in the region.

    According to diplomatic sources, the one-day meeting in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent will be dominated by discussion on cooperation among the member states in the areas of diplomacy, security, economy, transportation, and other sectors.

    The six heads of state will also discuss how to make the SCO more active in playing a role in regional and world affairs, the sources said.

    The leaders will sign a series of cooperation documents and issue a Tashkent declaration at the end of the closed-door meeting.

    Before the meeting started, the six leaders formally launched the Regional Anti-terrorist Structure of the SCO.

    The SCO secretariat, launched last January in Beijing, and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, are two permanent bodies of theSCO.

    The launching of the anti-terrorist body indicates that the SCOhas completed its structure building and has entered a stage of pragmatic cooperation between member states, diplomats said.

    The SCO, set up in June 2001, consists of six member states -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Enditem