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Ban praises regional cooperation in message to Eurasian security group

Ban praises regional cooperation in message to Eurasian security group

Ján Kubiš, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised today the growing cooperation between the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in tackling issues such as terrorism and the global financial crisis, and called for more action to deepen ties between the two organizations.

“The SCO has become an increasingly important instrument of security and integration in the Eurasian region,” Mr. Ban said in a message, delivered by Jan Kubiš, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), to the SCO Council of heads of State gathered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

“Few security problems today begin and remain within the borders of one country,” he added, citing terrorism, drug trafficking, transnational crime and environmental degradation.

While in Tashkent in April, the Secretary-General signed a joint declaration of cooperation between the SCO and the UN.

He said today that there is potential to develop initiatives with the SCO through the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia which has a focus on the UN Global Counter-terrorism Strategy.

Mr. Ban also noted the UN’s support for the well-being of the people in Kyrgyzstan. Earlier today, he had called for calm in the country following reports of renewed clashes and several deaths in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh.