The regional anti-terror center of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) still slogs through crimes such as international terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundry, said Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Hongwei Friday in Sanya, China's Hainan Province.

Meng made the remarks at a seminar held in Sanya, a coastal city in south China's Hainan Province, addressing problems the SCO has encountered since its establishment last June.

"Though great achievement has been made, SCO's anti-terror center is still entangled in problems triggered by terrorism, splittism and extremism, posing great threats to SCO member states," Meng said.

"We must improve the international multilateral cooperation mechanism to fight against terrorism as well as saying no to 'double standards' to all anti-terror efforts, thus to effectively cope with terrorism," said Kasimov Vyacheslav, director of executive committee of the regional anti-terror structure.

An agreement on the establishment of the center was signed by SCO members in June 2002 at the St. Petersburg summit, which aims to facilitate cooperation between the six member states in their fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism. According to the SCO Charter, the regional anti-terror agency is a standing body with its headquarters in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent.

The SCO, which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, was formally established in June 2001 and grew out of efforts in the 1990s to strengthen confidence-building measures in the Central Asian border regions and fight regional terrorism, religious extremism and separatism.

Source: Xinhua