SCO Leaders Sign Bishkek Declaration as Modi Pushes Anti-Terror Agenda, Pakistan to Chair Bloc

Heads of state from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation signed the Bishkek Declaration on Tuesday at the close of the bloc's 26th summit in Kyrgyzstan, capping a two-day gathering that brought together Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other regional leaders.

What Was Agreed

The summit, hosted by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, marked the SCO's 25th anniversary and concluded with the adoption of nearly 30 outcome documents, according to reports from the summit. Alongside the headline Bishkek Declaration, leaders signed a protocol amending the SCO Charter, agreed to make English an official language of the bloc, and approved the creation of a new Universal Centre for Countering Security Challenges and Threats to member states.

Economic and connectivity initiatives featured prominently in the outcomes. Leaders approved a cooperation programme to establish a "Green Technology Corridor" for scientific and technological collaboration among member states running through 2030, along with a roadmap for developing ports and logistics infrastructure across the bloc over the same period. Additional documents covered digital policy, energy cooperation, climate action, transport connectivity and the regulation of the SCO's Anti-Narcotics Centre.

In a notable procedural shift, Pakistan announced it will assume the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for the 2026-27 term, taking over from Kyrgyzstan.

Modi's Remarks on Terrorism

Addressing fellow leaders, Prime Minister Modi called for member states to dismantle what he described as the "entire ecosystem of terrorism," including its financing networks, recruitment channels, radicalisation pipelines and safe havens. He stressed that there could be no "double standards" in how the international community treats terrorism, a position India has consistently pushed at multilateral forums, particularly given its long-running security concerns in the region.

Why It Matters

The SCO now represents roughly 3.4 billion people and around 36% of global GDP, giving its joint statements real weight even though the bloc has historically struggled to translate consensus language into binding action. This year's summit was closely watched given the presence of leaders from India, China, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan together at one table, at a time when several member states are simultaneously navigating tensions with Western economies over trade, sanctions and energy policy.

For India, the summit offered a platform to press its anti-terrorism messaging directly to regional counterparts, including Pakistan, even as bilateral India-Pakistan and India-China relations remain complicated by unresolved border and security disputes. The economic outcomes — particularly the ports, logistics and green technology initiatives — will also be watched by trade and infrastructure sectors as the bloc tries to position itself as an alternative economic architecture to Western-led institutions.

Markets in the region showed no immediate reaction to the summit outcomes, with attention more focused on near-term factors such as crude oil prices and domestic earnings. Longer-term, however, the connectivity and trade commitments made in Bishkek could shape regional supply chains and infrastructure investment through the rest of the decade.

This article is an original editorial summary based on publicly reported information. It has been independently written for publication and does not reproduce content from any single source.