Kyrgyzstan hosts Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit as bloc expands its global role

Published on 11/09/2026 - 15:00 GMT+2

For two days, Bishkek became a centre of gravity in world affairs. Kyrgyzstan welcomed leaders from SCO's member states, including China, Russia, India, and Pakistan, alongside invited guests and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres.

Together they signed 28 documents, including the Bishkek Declaration, setting the bloc on a new course. The summit delivered the first changes to its founding charter in more than two decades, created a new centre in Bishkek to combat organised crime, and revived momentum behind a long-awaited SCO development bank.

The agenda stretched from artificial intelligence and clean energy to trade and connectivity, as leaders pressed their case for a fairer, more multipolar world. Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov put it plainly: that world, he said, should be built not against anyone, but together.

It capped a landmark year for Kyrgyzstan at the helm of the SCO, with nearly 200 events, a summit that drew the world's gaze, and even a mountain peak renamed in the bloc's honour. Now the baton passes to Pakistan, host of the next Council of Heads of State summit.