The Council of Heads of State
The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme governing body of the SCO. It determines strategic priorities and defines the main areas of the Organisation’s activity, takes decisions on fundamental issues relating to its internal structure and functioning, oversees interaction with other states and international organisations, and addresses the most pressing international issues.
The Council meets once a year. The chair is held by the head of state hosting the meeting. The venue for the Council meeting is generally determined by the Russian alphabetical order of the SCO member states.
The 26th meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council, chaired by Kyrgyzstan, took place in Bishkek from 31 August to 1 September 2026. A substantial package of documents was signed during the meeting.
Following the CHS meeting, 28 documents were approved, including the Bishkek Declaration, the Protocol on Amendments and Additions to the SCO Charter, the Statement of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States on Assistance to States Affected by Emergencies, as well as a number of other statements on key areas of the Organisation's activities. Decisions were made to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the SCO Secretariat and the African Union Commission, and to approve the provisions on the Universal Centre for Countering Challenges and Threats to the Security of SCO Member States and on the Executive Committee of the SCO Anti-Drug Centre.
The meeting was attended by President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko, Prime Minister of the Republic of India Narendra Modi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as SCO Secretary General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Ularbek Sharsheev.
The summit focused on issues of multilateral cooperation across the full range of areas: politics, security, trade, investment, energy, industry, ecology, tourism, new technologies, as well as matters of improving the Organisation's activities and the international agenda. During the discussions, the leaders put forward a number of initiatives and proposals for the further development of cooperation within the SCO.
The 26th CHS meeting of the SCO was the culmination of the Kyrgyz chairmanship in the Organisation in 2025–2026, held under the motto: "25 Years of the SCO: Together for Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity." The chairmanship for 2026–2027 was passed to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, whose leader defined the theme of the chairmanship as "Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity”.