The presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, along with a dozen partners, such as the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, support their Iranian colleague, Masud Pezeshkian, for two days in Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia) amid a military and economic war with the United States. In Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet this Monday and Tuesday to deepen their regional ties and confront Washington’s influence.
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The Iranian president will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of the other member countries and other partners, and will deliver a speech before the plenary session scheduled for September 1. “Iran does not seek war, but will firmly respond to any aggression,” said Pezeshkian hours before traveling to Central Asia. An interview with Putin is scheduled for the first day of September.
The Russian president has planned up to nine bilateral meetings, aside from the official summit meetings, according to the Kremlin. Among others, he will meet with his Chinese and Indian counterparts, as well as with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, one of the “dialogue partners” though not a permanent member of the SCO.
A multipolar world against the hegemonic vision of the United States
During the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Council held last month in the Kyrgyz capital, Iranian Minister Abbas Araghchi called on the organization to stand firm against unilateralism, clearly referring to the U.S.
Although the SCO claims that “it is not an alliance directed against other states,” these types of summits regularly serve Moscow and Beijing to show their unity and their vision of a multipolar world, opposed to the U.S. hegemony they continuously denounce.
Having been unable to resolve the war that the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran last February 28, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed secondary sanctions on Iran’s trading partners with the aim of weakening the Tehran regime. China has warned that it will firmly defend its interests, as Beijing is a major importer of Iranian oil. Russia is also a key partner of Tehran, with whom it has intensified military and commercial cooperation in recent years, coinciding with the war in Ukraine.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization celebrates in the Kyrgyz capital having reached 25 years of age with the motto “Together towards sustainable peace, development, and prosperity.”
Originally, the SCO was created to solve problems that arose in Central Asia after the end of the USSR
It was officially created in 2001 to solve problems that arose after the end of the USSR in Central Asia and that affected China. Initially, it was composed of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
But it had been in the making for several years since in 1996 the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan signed an Agreement to promote confidence in the military field in the border area.
On that basis, a mechanism called the “Shanghai Five” emerged to resolve security problems along the former Soviet-Chinese border and reduce military tensions in those areas. In 1997, the five states signed an agreement in Moscow to reduce armed forces in the border area.
Uzbekistan joined the group’s work, and on June 15, 2001, the leaders of the six approved the Declaration on the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. On the same day, the Shanghai Convention on combating terrorism, separatism, and extremism (which they dubbed “the three evils”) was signed.
Ten permanent members, with China as the most powerful, and 17 partners
In this quarter-century of existence, the organization has almost doubled the number of partners and has become one of the largest international organizations in the world (3.4 billion people, or more than 42% of the world population). According to World Bank data for 2025, the combined nominal GDP of the SCO countries corresponds to 23% of the world economy.
Currently, it already has ten permanent members after the successive incorporation of India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023, and Belarus in 2024. It also has two observer countries (Afghanistan and Mongolia) and 15 dialogue partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.
The summit officially opens on the night of August 31 with a solemn reception offered by the host, the president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadir Japarov. The official program focuses on September 1, when the Council of leaders of the member countries will address issues for strengthening the partnership, its modernization according to decisions already made two years ago, the promotion of cooperation in the fields of politics, security, economy, and humanitarian relations, as well as current international problems.
The SCO played a very important role after the collapse of the USSR to solve problems in Central Asia. A quarter of a century later, China is the undisputed most powerful partner, and the organization serves Beijing to strengthen its influence and promote its economic interests in the region. It has already surpassed Russia as the main trading partner of an area that was formerly part of the USSR.
Prelude to the next BRICS summit
In fact, the SCO is an important element for Beijing since in 2013 Xi Jinping launched the mega-project of the new Silk Road. Upon arriving in Bishkek, Xi Jinping highlighted this Monday the “golden age” of relations between China and Kyrgyzstan.
According to the Chinese TV channel CGTN, trade with SCO countries in 2025 was 524 billion dollars, compared to only 12 billion 25 years ago. Beijing’s investments in SCO countries exceeded 84 billion dollars last year. In addition, it has opened about 3,000 companies, which represent about 200,000 jobs.
The SCO Summit in Bishkek serves as a prelude to an important meeting of another organization that challenges U.S. influence, the BRICS summit scheduled for September 12 and 13 in New Delhi.
Following the example of the latter, the SCO tries to strengthen trade ties among its partners. For example, by creating a common bank similar to the BRICS New Development Bank, as decided at last year’s summit in Tianjin (China).
Institutions like these can help create a system that can circumvent Western sanctions, which countries like Iran or Russia currently suffer due to the war in Ukraine. But to carry it out, they have to overcome economic competition among their own member countries or the various conflicts that confront them. For example, some partners do not want to use the U.S. dollar, but choosing the Chinese yuan would initially face resistance from others, such as India.
