Participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) supports Kyrgyzstan’s multi-vector foreign policy by bringing together key Eurasian states, including China, Russia, India and the Central Asian countries, Temirlan Razbaev, chief expert at the Analytics and Coordination Department of the National Institute for Strategic Initiatives under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, told Trend. "The SCO supports Kyrgyzstan’s multi-vector approach, as China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and the four Central Asian states - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - are represented in one format. This allows Bishkek to discuss security, trade and infrastructure issues simultaneously with key Eurasian centers of power.
A concrete institutional result for Kyrgyzstan is the establishment in Bishkek of the SCO Center for Combating Transnational Organized Crime," he said. According to him, the chronology regarding Azerbaijan is important: Baku has been an SCO dialogue partner since 2015 and participated in the SCO Plus meeting in Tianjin in 2025. "On July 31, 2026, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan signed a Treaty on Allied Relations and a package of documents covering road transport, cargo transportation and shipping, energy cooperation for 2026–2028, cybersecurity, the financial market and precious metals.
It would be incorrect to say that these agreements emerged solely because of the SCO - they are the result of bilateral rapprochement. However, the SCO complements bilateral mechanisms with a common political platform and strengthens Kyrgyzstan’s positioning as a link between Central Asia and the South Caucasus," he added. Responding to a question about the main expectations for the upcoming SCO summit, given that Kyrgyzstan is hosting the meeting this year and that considerable attention is focused on it, he said the main expectation is to translate political agreements into implementation mechanisms.
"The meeting of the Council of Heads of State is scheduled for September 1, 2026, while high-level events in the SCO Plus format will take place on August 31 and September 1. On July 24, foreign ministers approved the draft Bishkek Declaration marking the 25th anniversary of the SCO, thematic statements and other decisions as a basis for further work. Therefore, the final package of documents cannot yet be considered approved.
I would assess the outcome based on three criteria: modernization of the SCO’s legal framework and mechanisms; practical implementation of the Development Strategy through 2035 and the 2025 agreements on new security structures; and project-based decisions in transport, digital trade, energy and investment," he added. Temirlan Razbaev noted that three interconnected areas are priorities for Kyrgyzstan. In Tianjin in 2025, agreements were signed on the SCO Anti-Drug Center and the SCO Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats.
The latter is expected to include a structure in Bishkek for combating transnational organized crime. This gives Kyrgyzstan not only a political but also an institutional role in the SCO’s overall security system. The second area is trade and transport.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
