The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is entering a consequential phase on its silver jubilee. The Bishkek Declaration reflects a bloc moving beyond its traditional security mandate towards connectivity, economic resilience, technology and wider Eurasian cooperation. For India, that evolution presents a clear opportunity, but also a test of whether New Delhi can move from participation to agenda-setting.
The bloc’s condemnation of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran adds a sharper geopolitical edge to the declaration. By backing Tehran and invoking the UN Charter, the grouping has reiterated its push for a more multipolar world order. However, the declaration’s strongest signal is on terrorism. SCO members rejected “double standards” and approved regulations for a coordination body to fight regional terrorism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for dismantling the entire ecosystem of terrorist financing, recruitment, radicalisation and safe havens, warning against States that use terrorism as an “instrument of policy”—a pointed message to Pakistan.
The larger opportunity lies in shaping the organisation’s emerging economic and technological agenda. The declaration highlights transport corridors, multimodal connectivity, digital commerce, energy security, industrial cooperation, startups, national-currency settlements and resilient supply chains. These are areas where India can press for tangible outcomes: interoperable digital systems, streamlined customs, logistics cooperation and greater access for Indian businesses to Eurasian markets. Technology is an equally important frontier. The SCO’s focus on artificial intelligence and information security gives India a chance to shape regional norms rather than simply adapt to them. The security dimension will be crucial, too, particularly on cross-border terror, narcotics and transnational crime.
Yet, India should be realistic about the SCO’s limitations. Its members have sharply divergent strategic interests, making consensus for a communiqué easier than implementation. It should be judged more by what it delivers, not by the breadth of its declarations.
For New Delhi, the most important shift is geographical. With Central Asia gaining greater prominence within the SCO, India should make the region the centrepiece of its engagement, combining political outreach with connectivity, education, healthcare, energy, technology and cultural partnerships. At 25, the SCO has gained considerable geopolitical weight. India should neither turn it into an arena for bloc politics nor allow others to unilaterally define its agenda. Its strategic objective should be sharper—ensuring India is an active co-architect of the region’s emerging order.
