From AI to energy, drugs to security: 13 Key outcomes of PM Modi’s SCO Summit visit
Heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) attended the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and signed the Bishkek Declaration along with 27 other documents
The documents covered counter-terrorism cooperation (regulations on a new Universal Center for Countering Challenges and Threats to Security), a 2026-2030 action plan for developing SCO ports and logistics centres, nuclear and physical nuclear security, energy systems cooperation, and a "Green Technology Corridor" programme for 2026-2030
India's remarks at the summit emphasised that connectivity projects must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and called for member states to dismantle the "entire ecosystem of terrorism," including its financing, recruitment and radicalisation networks, with no double standards in combating it
India's position was built around three stated pillars for the grouping: security, connectivity and opportunity
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — Structure and Membership
The SCO is a Eurasian political, security and economic grouping that evolved from the "Shanghai Five" mechanism into a formal international organisation. It functions on a charter-based structure with dedicated bodies for security cooperation, distinguishing it from purely economic blocs.
The Bishkek Summit is the 26th meeting of this Council of Heads of State; the new "Universal Center for Countering Challenges and Threats" announced at this summit adds to the existing RATS mechanism as part of the SCO's institutional counter-terrorism architecture.
India and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — the Sovereignty Objection
India is the only SCO member that does not endorse China's Belt and Road Initiative in joint SCO declarations, citing sovereignty concerns over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir — territory India claims as its own.
Key Details
- CPEC, launched in 2015, is a flagship BRI corridor linking Xinjiang in China to Gwadar port in Pakistan via territory India considers part of Jammu and Kashmir
- India's stated principle — that connectivity initiatives must respect sovereignty and territorial integrity — has been consistently applied at SCO, BRICS and other multilateral forums since India first articulated it in this context around 2017
- As an alternative connectivity vision, India promotes multilateral corridors such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the Chabahar port project in Iran, which do not require Pakistani transit
The "oblique reference" to sovereignty in India's summit remarks is a now-recurring diplomatic formulation used specifically to withhold endorsement of BRI language in SCO joint texts, without naming China or Pakistan directly.
International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Chabahar Port
The INSTC is a multimodal (ship, rail, road) trade corridor connecting India to Russia and Europe via Iran and Central Asia, positioned by India as a sovereignty-respecting alternative to China-led connectivity projects.
Key Details
- Launched in September 2000 in St. Petersburg by India, Iran and Russia as founding members; membership has since grown to about 13 countries including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Oman, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan
- Primary route: Mumbai (India) to Bandar Abbas/Bandar-e-Anzali (Iran), across the Caspian Sea to Astrakhan and onward to Moscow/St. Petersburg (Russia)
- Chabahar port in Iran, developed under a 2002 India-Iran agreement, provides India an alternative access route to Afghanistan and Central Asia that bypasses Pakistan
India's SCO diplomacy consistently pairs its objection to BRI/CPEC with promotion of INSTC and Chabahar as the connectivity model it wants the region to adopt instead — a distinction UPSC frequently tests via corridor-country matching questions.
SCO Counter-Terrorism Mechanisms and Synthetic Drug Control
Beyond RATS, the SCO has progressively added specialised centres to address transnational security threats, reflecting the organisation's original mandate (the "Shanghai Spirit") of combating terrorism, separatism and extremism ("the three evils").
Key Details
- Four dedicated SCO centres exist for: countering security threats, tackling transnational organised crime, cybersecurity/information security, and anti-drug cooperation
- A programme on Coordination of Measures to Combat the Proliferation of Synthetic Drugs and their Precursors, valid through 2030, was among the documents associated with this cycle of SCO summits
- The 2026 Bishkek Declaration continues a pattern seen in the 2025 Tianjin Declaration of linking counter-terrorism commitments to a broader development strategy for 2026-2035
The synthetic-drugs programme and the new Universal Center for Countering Challenges and Threats are the concrete institutional outputs behind India's summit call for dismantling the "entire ecosystem of terrorism," including its financing and radicalisation networks.
- SCO founded: 15 June 2001, Shanghai; Charter signed 2002
- Current full members: 10 — China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (founding, 2001), India and Pakistan (2017), Iran (2023), Belarus (2024)
- Secretariat: Beijing; RATS (counter-terrorism body): Tashkent
- 26th SCO Summit held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Bishkek Declaration plus 27 other documents signed
- INSTC: launched September 2000, founding members India-Iran-Russia, now about 13 member countries
- Chabahar port development agreement between India and Iran: signed 2002
- CPEC (BRI flagship corridor cited in India's sovereignty objection): launched 2015, links Xinjiang to Gwadar via Pakistan-occupied Kashmir