Top leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states and Afghan President Hamid Karzai (1st R)pose for a group photo in Tashkent, June 17, 2004. From right to left: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Uzbek President Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov, Russian Presient Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov. (Xinhua Photo)

President Hu Jintao delivers a speech at the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tashkent, June 17, 2004. (Xinhua Photo)

    June 8-18, 2004 -- The fourth summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opens in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent from June 8 to 18.

    During the summit, presidents of the six SCO member states, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, formally launched the Regional Anti-terrorist Structure of the SCO, and pledged in a joint declaration to cooperate in fighting terrorism and new security threats and in strengthening their economic and trade ties.