On August 31–September 1, 2026, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with President Xi Jinping in attendance. Marking the SCO’s 25th anniversary, the gathering brought together leaders from a bloc that has grown from 6 founding members in 2001 to 27 countries across Asia, Europe and Africa — a market of enormous scale and rising purchasing power. The summit’s theme, “Together Toward Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity,” signals where regional trade policy is heading.
The numbers behind the “Shanghai Spirit” are what matter to exporters. Trade between China and other SCO members surged from USD 12.1 billion in 2001 to USD 523.5 billion in 2025 — about 8% of China’s total foreign trade. In the first seven months of 2026 alone, China’s trade with SCO partners reached RMB 2.42 trillion, up 14.9% year on year, and China–Europe freight trains ran 13,000 trips (+17.6%). China has invested in 30-plus trade and economic cooperation zones across the region.
For a foreign brand that wants to sell into China, this is the signal that matters: the SCO framework is pushing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, digital trade, cross-border e-commerce and deeper supply-chain cooperation. China is actively expanding imports, cutting tariff barriers and opening platforms such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE). The “Silk Road e-commerce” initiative lets SCO countries’ specialty products reach Chinese consumers directly online, while Chinese platforms build direct-sourcing bases and more “SCO country pavilions” inside China.
The on-ramps are already live. On July 30, the China–SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference in Bishkek drew 100-plus enterprises for one-on-one matchmaking, producing 193 cooperation intentions and about RMB 1.74 billion in signed trade orders. The Qingdao SCO demonstration zone has attracted over RMB 150 billion in industrial projects, with trade to SCO countries growing 56% a year. Seven application platforms — green industry, digital economy, sci-tech, energy, higher education, vocational education and AI — are now active with 160-plus projects.
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