This year marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the SCO, and its member nation leaders will attend the summit including Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Dubbed a new model for regional cooperation, the SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001. Its main focus is regional security and anti-terrorism.

The permanent members of the SCO are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its four observer states are Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran.

The observer countries will send high-ranking officials and some other countries in the region have been invited to attend the summit, Liu said.

He said the coming summit will set forth a plan on the future development of the organization and provide a summary of its work over the past five years.

The Shanghai summit will further expand the organization's influence among the international community, Liu said.

He said China, which is currently holding the presidency, has begun full-scale preparations for the summit and commemoration events.

"The Chinese government and the Shanghai Municipal government will try their best to provide a better environment for the delegates," Liu said. Enditem

Editor:

Mo Hong'e