SCO agrees on joint response to global economic crisis

The members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) agreed to focus on a joint response to the global financial crisis and devise a common post crisis strategy, the South China Morning Post reported. The SCO, which includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, agreed to meet later this year in Kazakhstan to discuss the use of each other’s currencies in intra-group trade. Bilateral agreements were also reached. Russia’s state-run natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, and China National Petroleum Corporation signed an agreement for the supply of about 70 billion cubic meters of gas a year to China, but no price was set and no contract signed. Beijing and Moscow also agreed to give each other warning when the other launches strategic missles or rockets, a move that was seen as continuing to build trust between the two countries’ militaries.