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Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' Meeting

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday welcomed foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states to a meeting in Moscow.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also held a meeting with SCO foreign ministers and announced a new special status of "SCO dialogue partner" for non-member countries.

"Many countries have shown that they are making efforts to work together with the SCO, and on account of this interest we have recently introduced a new status, the status of SCO dialogue partner. Today, we've agreed to recommend to the heads of states to grant such a status to Belarus and Sri Lanka."

The SCO unites Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, India, Iran and Pakistan have an observer status.

A SCO summit is scheduled for June 15th to 16th in the city of Yekaterinburg.

Shanghai Launches Green-Commuting Project Ahead of 2010 World Expo

Shanghai has launched a Green-Commuting Project to ensure smooth traffic flow and a greener environment during the 2010 World Expo. The project encourages both residents and visitors to choose greener means of transportation.

Hei Fei has more.

The 2010 Shanghai World Expo is expected to receive some 70 million visitors from home and abroad.

Zhou Hansheng, deputy director of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau says the increased traffic flow during the expo will be a great challenge.

"On average, everyday at least 400, 000 visitors will go on into the Expo site. On peak days the number could be double. That is why the public transportation means and ways are the solution for people going and coming out. As residents in Shanghai, we need to have a very strong sense in mind---as we are hosts we need to sacrifice one way or the other to make this event a success."