Tashkent, Mar 16 (IANS): The Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) member states, including India and Pakistan, will participate in a joint anti-terrorism exercise this year, officials have said.

The decision to hold the joint exercise -- "Sary-Arka-Antiterror 2019" -- was announced during the 34th meeting on Friday of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) council of the SCO in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Delegations from India, Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the RATS Executive Committee attended the meeting, Xinhua news agency reported.

Chaired by Russia, the meeting also declared plans to hold the first stage of the joint border operation "Solidarity 2019-2021", the 7th meeting of the heads of the border services, and training workshops for identifying and preventing the use of Internet for terrorist, separatist and extremist purposes.

THe RATS is a permanent part of the SCO that serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism. It is headquartered in Tashkent.

The next meeting of the Council of the RATS SCO is scheduled in Russia in September 2019.