Members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization have called for greaterregional cooperation for maintaining peace and security in the region.

These views were expressed by the participants from the SCO member states,including India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan andUzbekistan, during the sixteenth session of the Forum, hosted by Instituteof Strategic Studies Islamabad.

The participants agreed that, given the geostrategic location ofAfghanistan, SCO members must make collective efforts to ensure that theAfghan peace and reconciliation process moves in a positive direction.

They also stressed the need for collective response from all member statesto fight off the perils of pandemic.

The Forum concluded with suggestions on improving people-to-peopleexchanges among member states.