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Strategies for fighting the "three evil forces", namely terrorism, separatism and extremism; safeguarding security and stability; and advancing pragmatic cooperation were the focal points of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tashkent Friday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (7th L) and other participants of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit pose for a group photo in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, on June 11, 2010.[Ju Peng/Xinhua]

A record number of representatives attended this year's summit, reflecting SCO's growing influence.

The Tashkent summit reviewed the achievements the organization has made in the past year, studied the opportunities and challenges it faced under the current regional and international situation and charted a course for future development.

Another aim of the summit was to strengthen unity and cooperation, maintain stability and pursue common development in the region.

Stability in Kyrgyzstan

The Tashkent Declaration, issued at the close of the summit, touched on the SCO's common approach to developments in Kyrgyzstan.

The SCO agreed to assist Bishkek in faster legitimization of the new authorities there in the run-up to a national referendum scheduled for June 27.

The SCO will send observers to Kyrgyzstan, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said here in the Uzbek capital. He called Kyrgyzstan Russia's "ally and a close partner".

"The attention paid to Kyrgyzstan during the summit was easily explained by the coincidence of the summit with the riots in Osh," Leonid Sedov, political analyst in Moscow's Levada Center think-tank, told Xinhua after the summit.

"It is a palpable example of extremism which is considered to be one of the 'three evil forces'. SCO countries would try by all means to prevent the deterioration of the situation in Kyrgyzstan."

On Friday, at least 23 people died and nearly 200 were injured in the southern Kyrgyz town of Osh during inter-ethnic violence, Russia's RBC news agency reported.

Iran remained on SCO fringes

During the summit, participants approved the SCO Rules of Procedure, and a process for future membership expansion.

Medvedev called these rules "an important internal corporative document". Still, as Uzbek President Islam Karimov noted, this did not mean the bloc's "automatic expansion" but only created the judicial base for such an expansion.

Iran has long been seeking membership of the six-member alliance, which was established in 2001 to ensure security along the border between China and former Soviet republics. Nevertheless, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was on a visit to Dushanbe, Tajikistan this week, did not attend the SCO Tashkent summit.

Ahmadinejad "received an invitation in due time, like other participants, confirmed (his participation) and then it was up to him to decide," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said of the Iranian leader's absence.

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