Xi, Modi and Putin set to meet for SCO summit: What’s on the agenda?

Published On 31 Aug 202631 Aug 2026.

Key points

• The group is projected to discuss new trade and transport corridors, such as the 7, 200km (4, 474-mile) International North-South Transport Corridor.
• The organisation has 14 key dialogue partners, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
• But in June 2001, the grouping evolved into the SCO, and expanded to include Uzbekistan, with headquarters in Beijing.
• This year's summit is taking place in Bishkek under the motto: Together for Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity.
• Xi, Putin and Modi will be joined by the Iranian president and leaders of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, among others.

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), including Chinese President Xi Jinping, his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are set to gather in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek for an annual summit.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is additionally attending the summit. It marks 25 years of its existence.

Notably, the two-day summit, starting on Monday, comes at a time when the world is grappling with the aftermath of the US-Israel war on Iran. It has upended global energy and financial markets, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

As United States President Donald Trump's unilateral foreign policy has eroded the global rules-based order?, so, what will be the main agenda of the summit, and will the SCO leaders try to employ the gathering to push for a multipolar world and Global South cooperation on trade and security matters. Here's what we know.

Who is attending the SCO summit and where is it being held?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn are additionally anticipated to attend the summit.

William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, observed that the ongoing wars are putting more strain on the rules-based international order, and against this backdrop, the summit serves as an notable occasion for a number of of the world's rising great powers, including China and India, to elevate their global influence and deepen their engagement and cooperation with other countries in the Global South.

"For years, SCO has been viewed as one of the avenues for China to promote the multipolar world order and form its own bloc with other developing countries. Despite its narrow scope of cooperation at the beginning, SCO member states have sought to expand the scope of their mandate and the number of member states, " Yang informed Al Jazeera.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, Yang stated, "China could use this year's summit to present itself as a great power that advocates for a peaceful resolution of the conflicts, thereby sharpening the contrast with the US."

"However, these efforts are likely to be limited to rhetoric rather than any substantive proposal for conflict resolution, " he remarked.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, remarked the summit is particularly significant as it marks the grouping's 25th anniversary and offers the first chance to turn last year's Tianjin strategy. It pressed a multipolar world order that fosters mutually beneficial international cooperation, into action. Last year's summit took place in China's Tianjin region.

"Putting Modi, Putin and Xi in the same room, with India-China border talks still live and a scheduled Modi-Putin bilateral, is a visible test of how far the recent thaw goes and how Eurasia wants to organise security, connectivity and trade without defaulting to Western institutions, " she informed Al Jazeera, referring to the recent India-China negotiations against the backdrop of the warming up of New Delhi-Beijing ties. What is the SCO?

Notably, the SCO began in 1996 as a security bloc, dubbed the "Shanghai Five". It was formed by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to settle their border disputes after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But in June 2001, the grouping evolved into the SCO, and expanded to include Uzbekistan, with headquarters in Beijing. In 2017, the bloc expanded to include India and Pakistan. Iran and Belarus were additionally went on as full members in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Furthermore, the organisation has 14 key dialogue partners, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

SCO member states account for 43 percent of the world's population and 23 percent – or almost a quarter – of the global economy.

According to Analysts have, while the SCO emerged with a focus on regional security, the expansion of its mandate to include trade and other Global South worries means it is tough to understand what sets the grouping apart from other Global South organisations like the BRICS, which is an acronym derived from the initials of the founding member countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Alejandro Reyes, adjunct professor in the department of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, remarked the SCO has grown into a "counterbalance" to the US-led Asia Pacific alliance aimed at countering China's rise. India is part of both groupings. "Interestingly, India is part of the SCO, and the US appears to have dropped the Indo-Pacific nomenclature, " he remarked.

Reyes emphasised that "the SCO is not a coherent anti-US, anti-Western alliance". "It is better understood as a forum in which countries with particularly different interests can demonstrate that they have alternatives and strategic room for manoeuvre – agency in this more volatile geopolitical order, dominated by China and the US. It is less an anti-American alliance than a venue for countries hedging against and hinging away from American power, " he informed Al Jazeera.

"The significance this year is that current US policies, especially with regard to Iran and continuing US tariff and sanctions action, may be making that hedging more attractive and necessary, " he continued. What is on this year's agenda?

Meanwhile, the US-Israel war on Iran, the Russia-Ukraine war and the economic and social situation in Afghanistan are key problems leaders are anticipated to discuss this year, according to the SCO Secretariat.

Relations between India and China – Asia's two major economies – are additionally anticipated to be discussed. Last year, Beijing and New Delhi began a rapprochement after five years of tensions over a 2020 deadly border skirmish. Trump's tariff war on Indian goods last year forced New Delhi to mend ties with Beijing. For the first time since 2018, Modi visited China last year for the SCO summit.

Border tensions between India and Pakistan additionally persist, and the problem is projected to be discussed at this summit.

Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of Bengaluru-based think tank Takshashila Institution's Geostrategy Programme, informed Al Jazeera that apart from the traditional security agenda, this year's summit might include any forward movement on matters of economic integration or financial cooperation architecture.

"In Tianjin, we had the agreement on establishing the SCO Development Bank, " Kewalramani remarked.

"The Kyrgyz leadership has said that its priority will be to move the needle on the bank, the SCO Development Fund and SCO Investment Fund, " he remarked, adding that while negotiations have reportedly been taking place in this direction, there is no clarity on whether any agreements will be confirmed at this year's summit.

According to the SCO Secretariat, economic connectivity will be a key topic the group will discuss as the US and Israel's war on Iran continues to paralyse key maritime routes like the Strait of Hormuz. It has upended global supply chains, the energy market and financial markets.

In practice, the group is projected to discuss new trade and transport corridors, such as the 7, 200km (4, 474-mile) International North-South Transport Corridor. It links the Russian port city of St Petersburg with India's financial capital, Mumbai, through Iran and ports on the Gulf.

According to Herrero, with Modi and Putin scheduled to hold a bilateral gathering, discussions on the Northern Sea Route, which runs through the Arctic coast, are additionally anticipated. China last month confirmed a new shipping route through the Arctic Ocean, aimed at easing global trade against the backdrop of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks in the Bab al-Mandeb in the Red Sea. It will pass through the Northern Sea Route.

According to Indian media reports, Moscow and New Delhi could negotiate the employ of the Northern Sea Route by India as the crisis in West Asia continues to affect trade routes.

Notably, the SCO will additionally seek to establish a network of Silk Road stations to backing international freight traffic throughout Eurasia. Can the SCO agree on all problems?

In practice, the Eurasian grouping has often been unable to agree on global geopolitical problems.

While additionally buying record levels of oil from Russia, for instance, Russia managed to obtain most SCO members to align with its interests when it comes to its war in Ukraine, but India has attempted to play a more balanced role – seeking peace and stronger ties with Ukraine.

But this year, Ukraine is projected to feature in discussions, with Turkiye's Erdogan and Russia's Putin holding bilateral negotiations on the matter, according to a Kremlin aide. Europe's deadliest war since World War II is in its fifth year.

Yury Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, remarked the gathering would take place on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

"There are plenty of matters to discuss. Of course, these include the situation in the Black Sea and the Ukraine matter in general, " he stated to journalists, referring to the rise in attacks in the Black Sea.

In practice, the SCO has, nevertheless, taken a more collective position on the US-Israel war on Iran and Israel's genocidal actions in Palestine.

In short, xi, Modi and Putin set to meet for SCO summit: What's on is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.