BAKU, Azerbaijan,
August 31. Kyrgyzstan needs to leverage its
geographic position not only as a transit factor, but also as a
basis for developing new production and logistics chains between
China, Central Asia and further south and west, Professor at
Ala-Too International University (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) Kubanychbek
Taabaldiev told Trend.


“Kyrgyzstan needs to leverage its geographic position not only
as a transit factor, but also as a basis for developing new
production and logistics chains between China, Central Asia and
further south and west. Kyrgyzstan is primarily interested in
maintaining, and even more so in accelerating, the current pace of
economic development. Over the past four years, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP
has grown 2.5 times. No other country in the region has recorded
such growth. What is driving this? Foreign investment. Then there
are areas such as transport, trade, energy, construction and
security.


The transport sector is under particular attention from the
country’s authorities. The start of construction of the
China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway at the end of 2024 marked the
beginning of Kyrgyzstan’s emergence from its transport isolation,”
he said.


According to him, energy, digitalization and joint responses to
climate and emergency challenges are no less important.


“Construction of new large hydropower plants on the country’s
rivers is progressing at an accelerated pace. Negotiations are
underway and terms are being discussed with Rosatom on the
construction of small-capacity nuclear power plants, as the acute
shortage of generating capacity is already becoming apparent due to
the growing number of companies requiring a stable electricity
supply. At the same time, humanitarian cooperation remains an
important tool for strengthening trust between the societies of SCO
countries,” he noted.


The professor added that Kyrgyzstan pursues a multi-vector
foreign policy, and the SCO provides the country with an
opportunity to pursue such a policy, allowing Bishkek not to become
tied to a single center of power.


“Within one platform, Bishkek interacts with China, Russia,
India, Iran, Pakistan and the Central Asian states, which expands
the space for diplomatic maneuver. At the same time, participation
in the SCO does not replace bilateral diplomacy but, on the
contrary, creates additional channels for its development. For a
country like Kyrgyzstan, this is particularly important:
multilateral formats can significantly increase Kyrgyzstan’s
diplomatic weight and visibility,” he added.







At the same time, Taabaldiev emphasized that after any major
political processes, such as summits, virtually everyone is
interested in how the event concluded, what documents were adopted
and signed, and so on.


“The key issue is how far they will translate into real
projects. For Kyrgyzstan, these are primarily transport, trade,
energy, investment and digital connectivity – areas where the
country can achieve a tangible economic effect.


As a neighbor of one of the SCO’s key leaders, China, Kyrgyzstan
can reasonably expect certain preferences in relations. Some of
these are already becoming evident. For example, Beijing’s
introduction of 240-hour visa-free stays for Kyrgyz citizens in
China already says a lot. Beijing is also clearly committed to the
construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which is
why the project is being financed with the full support of the
Chinese side and minimal burden on the other participants. And
there are increasingly more such examples.


It is important for Kyrgyzstan to leverage its geographic
position and become a more prominent link between China and Central
Asia, and through the region, between East and West. If Bishkek
manages to maintain this momentum after its SCO chairmanship ends,
the current summit could become not a point of completion for
Kyrgyzstan, but a launching pad for a new stage of regional
cooperation,” he concluded.


The SCO was established in 2001 and initially comprised China,
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Over the
past 25 years, its membership has expanded to 10 countries. The
26th SCO summit will be held in Bishkek on August 31-September 1,
2026, under Kyrgyzstan’s chairmanship. The meeting will focus on
the organization’s further development, strengthening economic and
transport cooperation, and security cooperation. Following the
summit, the leaders are expected to consider a number of documents
related to the development of the SCO’s financial and economic
mechanisms, including initiatives to expand settlements in national
currencies and establish new cooperation institutions.