Bishkek SCO Summit Signals Multipolar Drive and Global South Unity
Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, including Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Narendra Modi and Iran’s president, gather in Bishkek for the bloc’s 25th anniversary to push a multipolar world and deepen Global South cooperation on trade and security, amid the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts. The agenda centers on economic integration, new transport routes and financial architecture—such as the potential SCO Development Bank and Silk Road–related corridors like the International North-South Transport Corridor—while balancing India’s strategic autonomy and its ties with both Russia and the West. Analysts say the summit will mix signaling with limited substantive breakthroughs as major powers hedge against Western influence.