Following the Tianjin SCO summit held in September 2025, Kyrgyzstan became the next member state to assume the chairmanship of the organisation. Shumkarbek Adilbek uulu, Director of the National Institute for Strategic Initiatives (NISI) under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, explores the initiatives and vision Bishkek brings to the table, assessing what lies ahead for the SCO 25 years after its Shanghai Five predecessor was founded.
Over its 25-year history, the SCO evolved from a regional forum of six states into the world’s largest transregional association. At the 2025 Tianjin summit, the SCO Development Strategy until 2035 was adopted, identifying the comprehensive modernisation of the organisation as its key objective: updating the legal framework, increasing the efficiency of permanent bodies, and shifting from a discussion-based model towards a project-oriented approach. It is precisely at this pivotal moment that the SCO chairmanship passes to the Kyrgyz Republic. The motto “25 Years of the SCO: Together Towards Sustainable Peace, Development, and Prosperity”, proposed by President Sadyr Japarov, sets not only the tone, but also the logic: to look back in order to answer the question of what exactly the organisation must build over the next twenty-five years.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, Jeenbek Kulubaev, described the chairmanship as “a historic task and a great responsibility”, announcing the organisation of more than 30 major events—from security issues to digitalisation. The first, and traditionally central, priority of the Kyrgyz chairmanship is ensuring long-term stability. Within this area, Kyrgyzstan is advancing three specific initiatives: the establishment of an International Centre for Combating Organised Crime in Bishkek; deeper cooperation in combating cybercrime and digital threats; and enhanced coordination in countering terrorism, separatism, and extremism. On 30 March 2026, the 25th meeting of the SCO member states’ expert working group took place in Bishkek, approving protocols on military cooperation, while the April meeting of defence ministers from nine countries formalised the cooperation plan for 2026—2027.
At the same time, Kyrgyzstan’s most significant contribution to regional security has not been institutional, but rather a political breakthrough. On 13 March 2025, a historic agreement on the delimitation of the state border with Tajikistan was signed, bringing to an end decades of tension in the Ferghana Valley. The decisive factor behind this success was the political will of President Sadyr Japarov: direct contacts at the highest level, and the mechanism of “targeted neutrality”—the jointly agreed use of disputed areas without unilateral advantage for either side. On 31 March 2025, a trilateral summit of the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan was held in Khujand: for the first time in history, the leaders agreed upon the junction point of the three state borders and signed the “Khujand Declaration on Eternal Friendship”. On 9 September 2025, an international jury awarded the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize to the three presidents for this achievement.
The second priority of the chairmanship—realising the potential of economic cooperation—primarily envisages the creation of an independent SCO financial architecture. Kyrgyzstan has consistently promoted the establishment of an SCO Development Bank and the organisation’s investment fund—mechanisms without which the SCO’s declared project ambitions remain unrealised. In November 2025, at the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government in Bishkek, a number of decisions were adopted, including the SCO budget for 2026 and a roadmap for social development for 2026—2028. Kyrgyzstan’s principled position is that the SCO must move from the stage of being an “organisation of agreements” to becoming an “organisation of implementation”. According to SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, the summit in Bishkek—which is scheduled to coincide with the organisation’s anniversary—will become a platform for updating the SCO Strategy—with an emphasis on concrete mechanisms for project financing and implementation.
The transport dimension of the chairmanship flows naturally from Kyrgyzstan’s infrastructural position: the landlocked country is transforming itself into the “logistical core” of Central Eurasia. The construction of the China—Kyrgyzstan—Uzbekistan railway route, extending over more than 500 kilometres and involving investments of approximately 4.7 billion US dollars, is the flagship infrastructure project of the chairmanship cycle. Implementation of the project began in December 2024: the railway will run from Kashgar through the Torugart Pass and Jalal-Abad to Andijan, linking the Chinese and Central Asian transport networks. In parallel, Kyrgyzstan is advancing the transport agenda within the SCO itself: the creation of new logistical routes and the effective use of the transit potential of member states have been included among the official priorities of the chairmanship. In April 2026, the Ministry of Transport of the Kyrgyz Republic agreed with the Russian side on the launch of a corridor through the Caspian Sea—a route linking Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the Turkmen port of Turkmenbashi, and Russian ports, complementing the North—South corridor.
The fourth priority of the chairmanship—digital transformation—is being implemented through a specific initiative: the SCO Youth Digital Forum, scheduled for 4—5 June 2026 in Bishkek on the personal initiative of President Japarov, first proposed at the Tianjin summit. The forum will bring together young leaders, IT specialists, and innovators from member states to discuss artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and cybersecurity. Kyrgyzstan is advancing a principled position: digital technologies must create within the SCO a “single space of trust”, rather than deepen the divide between members with differing levels of technological development.
The significance of this position is reinforced by Kyrgyzstan’s own experience. The National Institute for Strategic Initiatives under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, jointly with the specialised ministry, is implementing a pilot project to assess the actual level of digital maturity of state institutions on the basis of a specially developed Digital Development Index. The fundamental novelty of this approach lies in rejecting the formal accounting of systems in favour of measuring their real effectiveness. The methodology is oriented towards international standards—the OECD Digital Government Index, the European DESI, and the World Bank’s GovTech Maturity Index—and is based on the principle of verifiability: every indicator is confirmed not by declarations, but by documentary evidence.
The fifth, and most specific, dimension of the chairmanship for Kyrgyzstan is the environmental agenda. On 3 April 2026, the 7th meeting of heads of SCO environmental agencies was held in Bishkek under the Kyrgyz chairmanship, at which Kyrgyzstan presented the “SCO Green Belt” initiative—a programme aimed at preserving natural ecosystems, expanding forest zones, and adapting to climate change. The country’s mountainous character—more than 90% of its territory consists of mountains, while glaciers are the principal source of water for the region—makes this initiative not merely declarative, but practically significant for the majority of the organisation’s members.
The cultural and humanitarian track of the chairmanship is being implemented through two symbolically significant decisions. Cholpon-Ata has been declared the SCO tourist and cultural capital for 2025—2026—a status that consolidates the role of the Issyk-Kul shoreline as a shared Eurasian space for recreation and cultural exchange. This decision is not merely decorative: the tourism potential of Issyk-Kul is becoming an instrument of people-to-people diplomacy, creating direct human connections between citizens of SCO member states. However, the most significant event within the cultural and humanitarian dimension will be the 6th World Nomad Games, which will take place in Bishkek in September 2026—in direct chronological conjunction with the summit.
This is no mere coincidence: Kyrgyzstan is deliberately constructing the image of a country in which Eurasian cooperation is embodied not only in treaties and declarations, but also in living, breathing cultural fabric. The Nomad Games represent the largest multisport and cultural platform uniting traditional sports, crafts, music, and epic traditions of the peoples of Eurasia and the wider world. Over the course of the previous five Games—from Cholpon-Ata to Astana—the competitions brought together participants from more than 80 countries, transforming from a regional event into a genuinely global one. The combination of the Bishkek SCO summit and the 6th Nomad Games within the same city and time frame creates a stable symbolic framework: Kyrgyzstan is positioning itself as an actor wielding soft power on a regional scale.
In conclusion, several points may be highlighted. First, the Kyrgyz chairmanship has proven substantive rather than merely rotational. Across all five declared priorities, specialised events have been held, concrete initiatives advanced, and documentary foundations prepared for summit decisions. Second, the border breakthrough of 2025—the settlement with Tajikistan and the Khujand Declaration—constitutes Kyrgyzstan’s most significant political contribution to the agenda of the 2026 Bishkek summit. The SCO proclaims the principle of the “indivisibility of security”; Kyrgyzstan demonstrates its practical implementation. This precedent deserves institutional consolidation in the final documents of the Bishkek summit.
Third, the transport and digital initiatives of the chairmanship are complementary in nature: the China—Kyrgyzstan—Uzbekistan railway creates physical connectivity, while digital mechanisms create administrative connectivity. Together, they form the infrastructural foundation of the “practical cooperation” envisaged by the SCO Development Strategy until 2035. Finally, fourth: the upcoming 2026 Bishkek summit is not merely the culmination of the SCO’s 25-year history, but the point at which the question of the organisation’s institutional maturity will be decided. The Kyrgyz Republic, as host country and architect of the agenda, bears a special responsibility to ensure that the summit becomes not a procedural milestone, but a strategic turning point.
