By empty (9/6/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kazakh Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev told the special session of SCO foreign ministers on 5 September that his country opposes any large-scale antiterrorism military exercises by the SCO on the grounds that the fight against terrorism is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies. The SCO recently held antiterrorism exercises in Kazakhstan and China. Toqaev argued that such activities create a mistaken impression of SCO goals in the world community.

By empty (9/6/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Foreign Ministers\' Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and China --met in a special session on 5 September in Tashkent. Uzbek Foreign Minister Sodyq Sofaev opened the session with an announcement that two SCO permanent bodies -- the secretariat in Beijing and the executive committee of the regional antiterrorism center in Tashkent -- will begin functioning in November. A communique issued at the end of the session called for the UN to take on a larger role in Iraq, supported efforts toward the peaceful resolution of the dispute over North Korea\'s nuclear program and the conflict in the Middle East, and called for the adoption of a convention against international terrorism and the elaboration of an international strategy under UN auspices to combat drug trafficking from Afghanistan.

By empty (9/5/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The state-owned Electrokavshiri telecommunications company disconnected telephone service to the Georgian parliament on 5 September for the third time this year because of unpaid bills, Civil Georgia reported. According to Electrokavshiri officials, the total debt for the parliament\'s phone service has reached 214,000 laris ($101,000), forcing the company to disconnect all 435 phone lines in the parliament building. (RFE/RL).