SCO defense ministers' meeting held in Beijing

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defense Ministers' Meeting was held in Beijing on Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and attended by defense officials at ministerial level from other SCO members, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The ministers agreed to enhance cooperation to battle separatism, extremism and terrorism as well as drug trafficking and cross-border organized crimes, according to a joint communique released after Tuesday's meeting.

They reiterated that the SCO is not a military or political alliance and its major task in safeguarding security lies in jointly combating terrorism and other security challenges in the region by strengthening military trust.

Ministers from the Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan decided to conduct 2014 SCO anti-terrorism military exercise in China.