China is ready to sign a cooperation agreement against the trafficking of narcotics and chemicals for illegal drug-making after reaching a consensus with the other five member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said a police official in Beijing Monday.

Yang Fengrui, director of the drug control bureau of the Public Security Ministry, said China was also engaged in the discussion of possible drug control cooperation agreements with Iran and Russia, both around the Golden Crescent, a major drug production base in central Asia.

Although Europe and North America were the major destinations of drugs produced in the Golden Crescent, China still faced a major drugs threat from the region.

Statistics from the United Nations show that the yearly opium yield in Golden Crescent reached 3,600 tons last year and was expected to exceed 4,000 tons this year.

As a regional cooperation mechanism, the SCO was established on June 15, 2001, and comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2004)