26th SCO Summit Held in Bishkek; Chairmanship Handed to Pakistan

1 September 2026National

The 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit was held at the Yrys Ordo Congress Hall in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 31 August and 1 September 2026, marking the grouping's 25th anniversary. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov chaired the Council of Heads of State and handed the rotating chairmanship to Pakistan. Members signed the Bishkek Declaration and adopted over 20 strategic decisions, approving institutional arrangements for the Universal Centre for Countering Security Challenges and the SCO Anti-Narcotics Centre Executive Committee. PM Narendra Modi, who reached Bishkek after a Uzbekistan leg, pressed his SECURE vision and coordinated counter-terror action, and met Vladimir Putin on the sidelines. Lahore was named SCO Tourist and Cultural Capital.

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SCO founded 2001, evolving from the Shanghai Five mechanism; Secretariat at Beijing and RATS headquarters at Tashkent | SCO's 10 members are India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus | India and Pakistan joined in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024

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