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BEIJING, June 10-- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) first-ever membership expansion demonstrated its strategic value in boosting international security and common development, officials and experts have said. With the accession of India and Pakistan at the 17th SCO summit in Astana, the SCO covers three-fifths of Eurasia, and has nearly half the world population. As a driving force in regional security and stability, the SCO has made security cooperation a priority since its founding in 2001. The expansion will improve its potential for cooperation and representation and boost international security and stability. "The expansion is a historic moment for the SCO and relations between Eurasian countries," Dmitry Mezentsev, former secretary general of the SCO, told Xinhua. Mezentsev said it would produce far-reaching influence for the international agenda, vigorously boost international security and stability and help resolve problems in the Eurasian region. Under the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, the SCO has made remarkable achievements in battling terrorism, extremism and separatism. "The SCO has played an exemplary role in building a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation over the past 16 years since its founding," said Sun Zhuangzhi, secretary-general of the SCO Research Center affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. | 
