Meanwhile, President Musharraf in his recent interview with theChinese media said Pakistan is eminently qualified to have fullmembership of SCO that is engaged in promoting peace and stabilityin the region as its main objective. He forcefully pleaded Pakistan's case in context of its geopolitical and strategic importance in the region and its legitimate right to play a greater role in regional organizations for promoting common interests in political, economic and defense fields. Musharraf hoped to get all-out support from the Chinese government to raise Pakistan's position in SCO from observer status to full member. " Pakistan seeks full membership in this important regional body,because it has leading role in achieving the organization's majorobjectives, i.e. fight against terrorism and to curb the menace of narcotics," he added. SCO is an inter-governmental international organization foundedin Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries including China, Russia,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also has four observer states, including Pakistan, Iran, India and Mongolia.--SPA 10 25 Local Time 07 25 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/338899