Uzbekistan is seeking to leverage its position within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to strengthen trade and investment ties, enhance transport connectivity, and expand cooperation in emerging areas such as digital technologies and artificial intelligence. With SCO member states already accounting for a substantial share of Uzbekistan’s investment and international freight flows, the organization has assumed increasing importance in the country’s efforts to deepen regional economic integration and diversify access to foreign markets. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev arrived in Bishkek to participate in the SCO Council of Heads of State meeting and the SCO Plus format on August 31–September 1.
The summit is expected to adopt the Bishkek Declaration marking the SCO’s 25th anniversary, alongside documents addressing economic cooperation, transport, artificial intelligence, environmental protection, and other areas. For Tashkent, the timing is particularly relevant as several of its priorities within the organization are moving toward more concrete forms of cooperation. Uzbekistan has advanced initiatives related to transport corridors, investment mechanisms, industrial cooperation, critical minerals, energy, and digitalization, reflecting its efforts to utilize the SCO as a platform for addressing practical constraints on economic expansion.
The key question for Uzbekistan, therefore, is how effectively the organization can facilitate connectivity, capital flows, and technological cooperation that directly support the country’s development objectives. Uzbekistan is becoming increasingly integrated with SCO economies The scale of Uzbekistan's economic ties with SCO members provides a strong economic rationale for deeper cooperation within the organization. According to Uzbekistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, investment from SCO countries reached $17.5 billion in 2025, with China accounting for about $13 billion, Russia $2.6 billion, Kazakhstan $870 million, Iran $265 million, India $247 million, Kyrgyzstan $197 million and Tajikistan $196 million.
China therefore represented roughly 74% of investment from SCO members, while Russia accounted for almost 15%, highlighting both the depth of Uzbekistan's economic links with the two largest SCO economies and the concentration of capital flows within the group. This concentration creates an incentive for Tashkent to broaden the investment base by making it easier for companies and financial institutions from other SCO countries to participate in Uzbek projects. Uzbekistan has increasingly promoted mechanisms aimed at achieving this, including an SCO investment forum, an electronic business portal and networks of venture companies and funds.
The SCO Investment and Business Forum held in Bishkek on June 24-25 brought these priorities together, with discussions covering investment, trade, industrial and technological cooperation, artificial intelligence, e-commerce and industrialization. The emerging approach is therefore centered on creating channels through which existing economic ties can generate a wider range of investment and business connections, rather than relying predominantly on bilateral capital flows from the largest SCO economies. Transport remains the most important economic priority For Uzbekistan, transport connectivity has a particularly strategic importance because the country is landlocked and depends on transit through neighboring states to access major external markets.
The importance of SCO countries to Uzbekistan's logistics network is already substantial. According to Uzbekistan's Center for Transport and Logistics Development Studies, international freight transportation between Uzbekistan and SCO member states increased by 40%, or 9 million tons, over five years, reaching 33.5 million tons in 2025. SCO countries account for around 80% of Uzbekistan's international freight transportation, with the largest volumes involving Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Kyrgyzstan.
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