Twenty-five years on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gathered in Bishkek for an anniversary summit attended by 21 leaders and marked by a two-page Bishkek Declaration and a bundle of agreements. Delegates endorsed about 28 protocols ranging from economic cooperation to nuclear safety, while the bloc’s membership continues to represent roughly 23–25% of global GDP. The ceremonial elements underscored the grouping’s diplomatic weight, even as the summit revealed persistent limits to collective decision-making.
The meeting functioned largely as a setting for bilateral exchanges rather than for settling inter-state conflicts. Narendra Modi used the podium to press for uniform action against terrorism and to call for protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity, remarks widely interpreted as directed at Pakistan and at states involved in contested territories. Modi also urged an end to ongoing wars in a public exchange with Vladimir Putin, repeating India’s appeal for conflict resolution while addressing an audience that includes partners with divergent positions on those conflicts.
Vladimir Putin pursued an intensive bilateral agenda in Bishkek, meeting numerous counterparts across the two-day summit. His extensive side meetings—partly a consequence of limitations on his travel options—kept him busy with partners ranging from India to regional presidents. By contrast, Xi Jinping confirmed only one bilateral session with Mr Putin before departing for a state visit to Cairo and onward participation in the enlarged Brics calendar. The pattern underlined how each major leader treated the forum as one venue among many for advancing national priorities rather than as the place to build a single collective strategy.
The summit’s takeaway was therefore procedural as much as political: the SCO remains a useful platform for bilateral agreements and for signalling non-western solidarity to domestic audiences, but it falls short of being an arbiter of the disputes members bring with them. Bishkek’s anniversary highlighted the organisation’s practical role in facilitating leader-to-leader diplomacy while exposing its limits in reconciling competing regional agendas.
