Bishkek Summit highlights SCO’s expanding scope and Uzbekistan’s strategic role

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit held in Bishkek on August 31 – September 1 this year, in particular the adoption of the Bishkek Declaration, amendments to the SCO Charter, the establishment of new permanent security bodies, and the initiatives put forward by the Heads of State, demonstrated that the Organization is entering a new stage of its development.

The political significance of the Bishkek Declaration should be assessed not by the number of issues it addresses, but by how those issues interconnect. On the one hand, the document reaffirms the principles of a multipolar world order, the UN’s central coordinating role, state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-interference in internal affairs. On the other hand, it complements these principles with practical cooperation in trade, investment, transport, energy, digital technologies, and climate-related issues.

The Declaration explicitly states that the SCO is not a military-political bloc and is not directed against other states or international organizations. This is an important point. Interpreting the Organization’s expansion or its growing international influence as a structure “directed against someone” would be inconsistent with both the document’s substance and Uzbekistan’s foreign policy position. The SCO model is based on maintaining consensus and practical cooperation amid differing interests.

Traditional areas of security cooperation remain in place. Combating terrorism, separatism, and extremism, as well as the cross-border movement of terrorists, drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, and cybercrime, remains among the SCO’s key priorities. At the Bishkek Summit, cooperation mechanisms in these areas were updated.

On Afghanistan, the Declaration combines principle with pragmatism. The document supports establishing Afghanistan as an independent, neutral, and peaceful state free from terrorism, war, and drugs, and notes the need for broad socio-political representation to achieve lasting peace in the country. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, for his part, emphasized that regular dialogue between the SCO and Afghanistan on a broad range of security and economic cooperation issues should now be resumed.

The Declaration also advances a position on the situation in the Middle East and around Iran, grounded in respect for states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, the settlement of conflicts through political and diplomatic means, and the easing of tensions.

Financial cooperation also received particular attention. The document notes the implementation of the roadmap to gradually increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements and the continuation of efforts to establish the SCO Development Bank.

The Bishkek Summit also allows an important conclusion about Uzbekistan’s role in the SCO: the country is no longer merely a participant in discussions but is becoming one of the members shaping the Organization’s long-term agenda.

The conceptual initiative “SCO 2040: A Common Space for Development”, proposed by the President of Uzbekistan, serves as an overarching framework that brings together the other initiatives. It aims to create a space where investment, technology, and knowledge can circulate freely, major infrastructure and industrial projects can be implemented, and direct ties among regions, businesses, and people can be expanded. This reflects a vision of the Organization not merely as a platform for interstate negotiations but as a system that connects economic actors and regions.

The SCO Industrial Cooperation Map is a practical extension of this idea, designed to link special economic zones, production processes, markets, and logistics.

Meanwhile, artificial intelligence initiatives are shaping the economy of the future. This issue is particularly important for Uzbekistan: the growing volume and quality of digital data in the Uzbek language directly affect the competitiveness of local technology companies, as well as education, public services, and business solutions.

The growing emphasis on the economy, entrepreneurship, investment, and technology in the SCO’s activities requires new approaches from UzLiDeP. This is because many of the decisions adopted within the Organization directly affect the interests of the party’s core electorate – entrepreneurs and farmers.

One of the party’s key tasks is to turn the President’s economic initiatives within the SCO into specific program objectives and proposals aligned with the country’s national interests.

It would also be advisable to involve the party’s Think Tank in the ongoing analysis of economic, technological, transport, and security issues on the SCO agenda. This requires continuous monitoring of decision implementation, negotiations on the Development Bank, the formation of the Industrial Cooperation Map, preparations for the Artificial Intelligence Forum, and the activities of the new centers. A political party’s strategic capacity is reflected in its ability to turn international trends into national objectives and those objectives into specific program proposals.

Sardor Maripov,

Head of UzLiDeP Department for Working with Strategic and Program Documents