Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov congratulated the entrepreneurs on the newly established SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee.

    The presidents are in Shanghai for the SCO's 2006 summit slated for Thursday.

    Representatives of entrepreneurs from the six SCO members -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan --gathered here on the eve of the summit to set up the committee and explore ways for enhancing regional economic cooperation.

    Photo taken on June 14, 2006 shows the establishing meeting of the Entrepreneurs' Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua Photo)

    "The establishment of the SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee has built a very good platform for closer exchanges and cooperation between businesses of the six SCO economies," said Chinese President Hu Jintao while meeting the entrepreneurs.

    Among the SCO member states, the factors of sound economic development, complementary economic structure, improving trade and investment environment, and opening markets have created good conditions and opportunities for regional economic cooperation, he added.

    "Active participation of the entrepreneurs will definitely make the SCO render substantial results in economic cooperation and bring more tangible benefits to the peoples of the member countries," the Chinese president said.

    The SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee is a non-governmental organization to promote multilateral cooperation in trade, finance, science and technology, energy, transportation, telecommunication and agriculture.

    More than 140 large and medium-sized businesses from the six countries have become full members of the committee.

    China will provide loans or assistance within its capacity to fund a number of transportation, telecommunication and electricity projects among the SCO members so as to boost regional economic growth, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan said at Wednesday's meeting marking the establishment of the committee.

    About 200 entrepreneurs and officials attended the meeting.

    But Tang did not give any details about these projects or how much China's aid will be worth.

    Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou said Tuesday that some 2 billion U.S. dollars worth of business contracts and loan agreements are expected to be inked on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

    Yu said the deals would include a highway project connecting Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, two high-voltage electricity lines in Tajikistan, a cement plant in Kyrgyzstan with a daily production of 2,500 tons, and a hydropower station in Kazakhstan.

    The six SCO member countries take up 60 percent of Eurasia and their population accounts for a quarter of the world's total. The six economies reported a combined GDP of 1.5 trillion U.S. dollarsin 2004.

    To date, investment between SCO members has surged to 15 billion U.S. dollars, covering mainly oil and gas exploration, transportation, telecommunication, electricity, chemical industry, construction material, project contract and agriculture.

    In a bid to promote trade and economic cooperation among SCO members, China pledged in 2004 to offer 900 million U.S. dollars of preferential export buyer's credit to other SCO members.

    China had basically put the fund in place, said Chinese President Hu Jintao at the end of May during a joint interview with media representatives from the six SCO member states.

    China reported 37 billion U.S. dollars of trade with other SCO members in 2005, up 212 percent over that of 2001, according to the Ministry of Commerce of China.

    The ministry said China's actual investment in the other five SCO members totaled eight billion U.S. dollars last year, four times the 2001 figure. Enditem