ASTANA - Cultural and spiritual exchanges are an important foundation for consolidating traditional friendship between peoples of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Kazakh cultural official says.

"Since its establishment, the SCO has made great achievements in the field of cultural cooperation," Kazakh Deputy Minister of Culture Askar Buribaev said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The expansion and deepening of multilateral cultural cooperation is a powerful driving force for the promotion of unity, Buribaev said.

He said Kazakhstan regards cooperation within the framework of the SCO as a priority area of its foreign policy.

SCO member states are neighbors and have close cultural practices, so it creates favorable conditions for the organization to strengthen cooperation in humanities and culture, he said.

Furthermore, close economic ties among SCO member states have laid a solid foundation for deepening bilateral and multilateral cultural cooperation, he added.

Buribaev said that in recent years SCO member states have organized a series of cultural activities, including drama festivals, exhibitions, concerts, seminars, roundtables, and poetry evenings.

Kazakhstan also has sent delegations to participate in the activities, he said.

Last year, Astana hosted "Silk Road - Chinese Silk Art Exhibition", for which the China National Silk Museum provided precious exhibits. Some Kazakh museums also exhibited their modern works of art during the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Buribaev believes that the primary direction of cultural cooperation within the SCO framework is the development of multilateral and bilateral communications and the promotion of mutual understanding among peoples.

"To realize this objective, we must jointly hold some activities to commemorate significant historical events of each member state; meanwhile encourage to strengthen communications among creative groups, and set up cultural centers to jointly study various cultures, traditions and customs of different nations," he said.

Buribaev expressed gratitude to his Chinese counterparts for helping Kazakhstan's "cultural heritages" project.

"We acquired a large number of unique historical materials of Kazakhstan from Chinese libraries, foundations and museums, involving Kazakh history, traditional culture and Kazakhstan-China relations," Buribaev said.

"Culture can shorten the distance between peoples. There is no doubt that cultural cooperation of SCO will have a great prospect, " he added.