PM Modi arrives in Kyrgyz Republic after a productive visit to Uzbekistan,to take part in SCO Summit
India's Prime Minister undertook a multi-leg Central Asia visit, holding bilateral talks in Uzbekistan before travelling to the Kyrgyz Republic to attend the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, held 31 August-1 September 2026 in Bishkek.
The summit, themed "25 Years of the SCO: Together Towards Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity," marks a quarter-century since the SCO's founding in 2001.
India held a series of bilateral consultations on the sidelines with the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, covering connectivity, trade, and regional security.
The summit convened amid heightened West Asia tensions arising from the ongoing US-Iran conflict, adding urgency to discussions on regional stability and energy security among member states.
The visit followed engagements in Uzbekistan, where India and Uzbekistan elevated ties and issued a joint statement on counter-terrorism cooperation ahead of the summit.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
The SCO is a Eurasian political, security, economic, and cultural bloc that evolved from the "Shanghai Five" grouping formed in 1996 (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) to resolve post-Soviet border disputes. It was formally established on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, with Uzbekistan joining as the sixth founding member, giving it a mandate spanning security cooperation, counter-terrorism, trade, and connectivity across Eurasia.
The 2026 Bishkek Summit marks the SCO's 25th anniversary, and India's continued high-level participation underscores its use of the platform to engage both rivals (China, Pakistan) and partners (Russia, Central Asian states) within a single multilateral forum, even as bilateral frictions persist outside it.
India's SCO Membership and Central Asia Strategy
India moved from SCO observer status (granted 2005) to full membership in 2017, reflecting a deliberate strategy to institutionalise its presence in Eurasia despite lacking direct land connectivity to Central Asia (due to the absence of transit access through Pakistan). Full membership gives India a seat in SCO decision-making on security, connectivity, and economic cooperation across the region.
Key Details
- India relies on alternative connectivity routes to Central Asia, notably the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Iran's Chabahar Port, given the lack of direct overland access.
- The SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is the bloc's permanent counter-terrorism body, established in 2001; India participates in its intelligence-sharing and joint-exercise mechanisms.
- India's engagement combines SCO multilateralism with bilateral upgrades — such as the India-Uzbekistan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership announced during this visit.
The Uzbekistan-then-Kyrgyzstan itinerary reflects India's dual-track Central Asia approach: deepening bilateral ties with individual states while using the SCO summit to engage the wider Eurasian security architecture, including China and Russia, in one setting.
Sidelines Diplomacy and Bilateral Mechanisms at Multilateral Summits
Multilateral summits like the SCO routinely serve as venues for bilateral meetings between leaders who might not otherwise schedule dedicated state visits — a practice distinct from formal State Visits or Summit-level bilateral mechanisms (e.g., annual India-Russia Summit). Outcomes from such sideline meetings are typically informal or captured in brief joint readouts rather than binding joint statements.
Key Details
- Bilateral meetings on SCO sidelines allow leaders to address specific issues (trade, connectivity, regional security) without the full protocol of a state visit.
- Such consultations are non-binding in the way an MoU or Treaty would be, but often set the agenda for subsequent formal bilateral summits.
India's sideline consultations with Russia, China, and Iran at Bishkek fit this pattern — using the SCO's convening power to advance bilateral agendas alongside the multilateral summit outcomes.
- SCO founded 15 June 2001 in Shanghai; evolved from the "Shanghai Five" (1996); Secretariat in Beijing.
- 10 full SCO members as of 2026: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan (both joined 2017), Iran (joined 2023), Belarus (joined 2024).
- RATS (SCO's counter-terrorism organ) headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, established 2001.
- India held SCO observer status from 2005 before attaining full membership in 2017.
- The 26th SCO Summit was held 31 August-1 September 2026 in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, themed around the SCO's 25th anniversary.