SCO friendship treaty a milestone, says Hu

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: President Hu Jintao said yesterday that the signing of the treaty on long-term friendship among Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states is a milestone and put forward four proposals for the organization's development.

Speaking at the Seventh SCO Summit in Bishkek, Hu said: "Over the past six years, the SCO has become an effective mechanism to boost common interests of member states and a driving force in maintaining peace and promoting development."

Unilateralism, power politics and traditional and non-traditional threats still deprive many developing countries of the benefits of globalization, he said.