THE Shanghai Cooperation Organization established an entrepreneurs' committee yesterday that will include businesses and banks from the six member countries.

So far more than 140 big and medium-sized companies have joined up.

"The major task of the committee is to promote SCO members to develop and cooperate in areas like the economy and trade, loans, technology, energy, transport, telecommunications and agriculture," said State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan at yesterday's SCO industrial and commercial forum where the committee made its debut.

"It marks a new start for the six economies to consolidate regional economic development," he said.

The secretariat of the committee is based in Moscow.

Member countries also reached consensus on supporting the development of small and medium-sized firms in the six nations and strengthening the cooperation in culture.

They also agreed to cooperate in research and development of advanced medical equipment and other advanced technologies.

Tang said China proposed to give priority to network projects.

He mentioned highway transport networks, telecom networks and electric power networks.

China is also willing to offer loans and help raise funds for the projects, he added.

But Tang did not give any details about the projects or how much China's aid would be worth.

Experts from the six countries and from various fields were also proposed to be invited to co-research how the regional economic development could be deepened and the feasibility of the arrangement of regional economic integration, the state councilor said.

Presidents of the six member states of the SCO met the representatives of entrepreneurs from the six countries yesterday evening with the hope that business people will work together to promote prosperity in the region.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbek President Islam Karimov congratulated the entrepreneurs on committee.

"The establishment of the SCO Entrepreneurs' Committee has built a very good platform for closer exchanges and cooperation between businesses of the six SCO economies," said Hu.