MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a presidential order approving the signing of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Convention on Combating Extremism, a relevant decree was published on the government’s legal information portal on Wednesday.

“To accept the offer of the government of the Russian Federation to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Convention on Combating Extremism… To consider it appropriate to sign the Convention, provided for by the present order, at the meeting of the Council of the Heads of the SCO Member States”, the decree said.

According to the order, the Russian Interior Ministry may introduce amendments to the draft document, ratified by the Russian government, if it is not of fundamental importance, during the negotiations on the signing of the Convention.

The SCO is a political, military and economic alliance comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The organization kicked off its two-day summit on Thursday in the Kazakh capital of Astana. During the summit, member countries signed a document on the accession of India and Pakistan to the SCO.

The Convention on Combating Extremism, signed at the Astana summit, stipulates cooperation in fighting terrorism, including collaboration between member countries’ special services. It was emphasized that such anti-extremist initiatives are highly important in the wake of the growing threat of international terrorism and terrorist organizations operating in SCO countries.