He also hoped the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project would soon be finalised, saying it would promote economic cooperation in the region.

The SCO was founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries -- China, Russia [Images], Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan -- with the aim of promoting and maintaining regional peace, security and stability. India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia are observer states in the organisation.

While every other member and observer was represented by its head of state, India sent its Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora.

This sparked speculation that New Delhi did not want to antagonise Washington -- which sees the SCO as an attempt to forge a rival power center -- at a time when the nuclear deal is being debated in the US Congress.

Image: China's President Hu Jintao, Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmonov and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Shanghai International Convention Center in China, June 15.

Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/AFP/Getty Images