SCO to sign cooperation treaty on animal disease control

BEIJING - Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will sign a document for cooperation framework on cross-border animal disease control during the SCO summit in June.

A two-day meeting which concluded on Sunday in Xi'an, capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, created the cooperation framework and launched a monitoring platform for cross-border animal disease risk analysis and warnings among SCO member countries, according to an online statement from the General Administration of Customs.

Policy communication will be enhanced and a cooperation scheme will be established to better safeguard human health and food safety, and facilitate the trade of animal-related products within the world's most populous regional organization.

The SCO accounts for over 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half of the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP. Its eight member states are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan.

This year's SCO summit will be held in Qingdao, eastern China's Shandong province.