From August 31 to September 1, the city of Tianjin hosted the annual SCO Summit, marking the end of China’s 2025 Presidency. This year’s meeting highlighted a shift in the bloc’s priorities and decision-making, with economic matters and governance issues being placed at the forefront of the Group’s agenda alongside traditional security concerns.

Although these trends have been taking shape over the last years, under Beijing’s chairmanship, the SCO gave unprecedented weight to economic cooperation, institutional development, and global governance; an acceleration driven by broader geopolitical uncertainty and the evolving relationship between the Global South and the West.

We take a closer look at the nascent economic dimension of SCO and the driving forces behind this process in our memo.