The SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, that took place on August 31 – September 1, 2026 featured an impressive list of agreements signed by participating parties, including the approval of a joint action plan for biodiversity conservation until 2031 together with a memorandum on climate change mitigation; the endorsement of a «Green Technology Corridor» program directed at boosting technological cooperation until 2030; the signing of the Bishkek Declaration that encapsulated the 25 years of the bloc’s evolution and charted its future trajectories. The SCO also continued to broaden its network of partnerships and accords with the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the African Union Commission[1]. In our view, some of the key developments at the SCO summit also involved the further evolution of the SCO+ format and discussions within the bloc concerning its role in the future of Eurasia’s governance and international cooperation.
Within the framework of SCO summits the SCO+ format was employed and institutionalized in Tianjin, China during the September 2025 summit. At the time, the SCO+ format involved the participation of some of the regional integration arrangements from Eurasia, including ASEAN and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) [2]. During the 2026 SCO summit in Bishkek the SCO+ format featured representatives of international organizations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev, CSTO Secretary-General Taalatbek Masadykov, Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman Bakytzhan Sagintayev (EAEU) and CICA Secretary-General Kairat Sarybay[3].
The discussions at the SCO summit focused in particular on the role of the SCO+ format, with some of the most important proposals being advanced by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. In particular, Uzbekistan’s President called for stronger cooperation between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the United Nations, proposing new mechanisms to coordinate regional initiatives and to advance solutions within the UN framework[4].
On the critical issue of the relationship between global institutions and regionalism, President Mirziyoyev emphasized how the SCO+ format and regional institutions like the SCO could serve as supporting pillars for global organizations such as the United Nations that in turn is to retain it central coordinating role in global governance. In this respect, he noted that “the potential of regional organizations should be more actively used to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals”[5].
The key proposal coming from President Mirziyoyev pertained to developing “SCO Plus” into a platform for interregional dialogue covering sustainable growth, high technology, climate adaptation, human capital, accessible education, and youth support. To align approaches within the UN framework, Uzbekistan called for establishing a Partnership Network of Regional Organizations built on the basis of the “SCO Plus” format[6]. Such a network of regional organizations would establish permanent working contacts between secretariats and relevant bodies for the joint implementation of projects in Eurasia and provide scope for sharing experience/best practices as well as coordinating approaches within the UN framework[7].
In effect, the proposals coming from Uzbekistan called for the SCO+ format to go beyond the mere exercise of the extended meetings of the SCO towards a more dynamic and innovative platform that could become the engine of the “integration of integration” cooperation in Eurasia. As stated by Uzbekistan’s President with respect to the SCO+ format, “this platform is capable of uniting states, regions, and organizations around a common agenda. It is possible and necessary to conduct dialogue here on aligning various initiatives and shaping the architecture of global governance” [8].
Finally, President Mirziyoyev also advanced the proposal to establish a permanent SCO Plus Forum of Cultures and Civilizations, with Khiva suggested as the venue. This initiative, according to the President of Uzbekistan, would “create a platform for countries with different political systems, cultural traditions and approaches to international affairs to exchange experience and strengthen mutual understanding”[9]. In his concluding remarks President Mirziyoyev noted that the “SCO Plus format responds to the growing need for dialogue between countries and regions, stressing that greater common ground can create a stronger foundation for stability and mutual trust”[10].
The importance of the proposals coming from President Mirziyoyev relate to the rising trends of cooperation among the regional integration blocs in the world economy even as there is still no horizontal platform for regional arrangements in the global governance system. With the creation of the “Partnership Network of Regional Organizations” the SCO via the SCO+ format would establish one of the first platforms of cooperation for regional integration arrangements, opening the possibility to replicate such a format for regional development institutions (regional development banks and regional financing arrangements) as well as other regions of the Global South.
Overall, the proposals advanced by Uzbekistan’s President represent a crucial contribution to the ongoing discussion within the bloc on its future development trajectories. In this respect, the further evolution of the SCO+ format retains substantial reserves for further expansion to include such regional integration blocs as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The GCC is an increasingly natural extension of the SCO+ format given the recent trends of closer SCO-GCC cooperation, with almost all of GCC members (with the exception of Oman) receiving dialogue partnership status with the SCO since 2022. The SAARC track could become a key gateway to expanding the outreach of the SCO towards South Asian economies, particularly with Pakistan assuming the SCO presidency in 2026-2027. With ASEAN and the EAEU already featured in earlier SCO+ outreach exercises, the invitation of the GCC and SAARC to the SCO+ platform could in effect complete the SCO+ outreach to cover almost all of the developing economies from non-European Eurasia via the SAGES platform[11] (SCO, ASEAN, GCC, EAEU, SAARC). This in turn may be one of the possible modalities in which a “Partnership Network of Regional Organizations” proposed by President Mirziyoyev could operate on the basis of the SCO+ format.
[1] https://uz.kursiv.media/en/2026-09-01/sco-summit-in-bishkek-ends-with-signing-of-28-documents/
[2] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/sco-summit-declaration-charts-new-development-trajectories/
[3] https://www.azernews.az/region/263077.html
[4] https://daryo.uz/en/3FNlWJQDg/
[5] https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/uzbekistan-advocates-multipolarity-that-expands-space-for-opportunity-president/4043933
[6] https://azertag.az/en/xeber/mirziyoyev_proposes_expanding__039sco_plus_039_cooperation-4392741
[7] https://daryo.uz/en/2026/09/01/uzbekistan-backs-stronger-sco-plus-cooperation-under-un-framework/
[8] https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/uzbekistan-advocates-multipolarity-that-expands-space-for-opportunity-president/4043933
[9] https://daryo.uz/en/3FNlWJQDg/
[10] https://daryo.uz/en/3FNlWJQDg/
[11] https://brics-plus-analytics.org/the-rics-realm-from-regionalism-to-globalism/
Yaroslav Lissovolik, Founder, BRICS+ Analytics
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