BEIJING, July 2(Xinhuanet)-- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) plays an important role in safeguarding regional security and promoting member states' common development, said Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Hu, now on his Russia visit, made the remarks in a recent written interview here with the Kazakhstan News Agency, before his state visit to Kazakhstan on July 3-4 and attending the SCO summit meeting in Kazak capital of Astana.

Hu said since the SCO was founded in 2001, prominent achievements have been witnessed in various fields, and there exist broad prospects for cooperation among all SCO member states.

Now promoting both security and economic cooperation has become prior task for the SCO, Hu said, noting that because all the SCO member states are confronted with threats from "three evil forces", namely, terrorism, extremism and separatism, promoting security cooperation is conducive to safeguarding peace and stability of all member states and of the region.

Meanwhile, all the SCO member states also share a common task of boosting economic and social development. "We enjoy great potentials in our economic and trade cooperation, since all SCO member sates, as close neighbors with rich resources, could complement each other in economy," he added.

Hu said facts in the past years prove that enhancing security and economic cooperation accords with fundamental interests of all SCO member states, and helps achieve common development and prosperity.

As long as all member states grasp the opportunity and join hands together, the great potential in cooperation among SCO members would be surely turned into specific fruits, which would bring more benefits to peoples and make more contributions to promoting peace and development of the region and the world at large. Enditem