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On the margins of the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, the Prime Minister held bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Iran, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation, and with the Prime Minister of Armenia.
With Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian, the discussion covered the West Asia conflict, with India stressing freedom of navigation and commerce and the protection of civilian shipping and seafarers.
With President Vladimir Putin — their first meeting this year, after the 23rd Annual Summit in Delhi in December 2025 — the leaders welcomed the outcome of the 27th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission held in Moscow on 24 August 2026.
With Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in their first meeting since his re-appointment after Armenia's June 2026 elections, cooperation in defence, economy, pharma, mining, education and culture was discussed.
The Prime Minister invited both President Pezeshkian and President Putin to the 18th BRICS Summit in India on 12-13 September 2026, held under India's 2026 chairship.
Eurasian political, economic and security grouping; its Heads of State Council is the summit-level body and the chairmanship rotates among members
The SCO's permanent counter-terrorism body, operating under the SCO Charter and the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism — the 'three evils' formulation
The standing ministerial mechanism that prepares the economic agenda of the annual India-Russia summit; its 27th session was held in Moscow on 24 August 2026
Grouping of major emerging economies; India holds the 2026 chairship and hosts the 18th Summit in New Delhi on 12-13 September 2026
The Shanghai Five is formed — China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — as a border-security and confidence-building mechanism
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is formally established at Shanghai when Uzbekistan joins the group, taking it to six founding members
India and Pakistan are admitted as full members
Iran becomes a full member
Belarus becomes a member, taking the SCO to ten members
The Kyrgyz Republic chairs the organisation and hosts the 26th Summit at Bishkek
Give India sea access to Afghanistan and Central Asia while bypassing Pakistan
Key: India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) signed a 10-year agreement with Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization on 13 May 2024 to develop and operate the Shahid Beheshti terminal, with about USD 120 million of investment and a USD 250 million credit line. Chabahar sits on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz — which is precisely why 'freedom of navigation and commerce' is not an abstract phrase in an India-Iran meeting
A multimodal ship-rail-road freight route linking the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf through Iran to the Caspian, Russia and Northern Europe
Key: Established by a trilateral inter-governmental agreement signed by India, Iran and Russia at St. Petersburg on 12 September 2000, which entered into force on 21 May 2002; the corridor runs about 7,200 km. Membership has since widened to include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Oman, Turkey and others — which is why Armenia and Russia appear in the same connectivity conversation
The apex leader-level mechanism of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership, held alternately in each country
Key: The 23rd edition was held in Delhi in December 2025. The Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation, whose 27th session met in Moscow on 24 August 2026, is the ministerial machinery that feeds it
Bishkek, the venue, is the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic, a landlocked Central Asian state in the Chu river valley in the north of the country. Kyrgyzstan is dominated by the Tian Shan and Pamir ranges, with roughly 90% of its territory above 1,500 metres, and holds Issyk-Kul, among the world's largest alpine lakes. Armenia is a landlocked state of the South Caucasus, capital Yerevan, bordered by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran — the Iranian border is what makes Armenia relevant to the INSTC and to India's overland reach. Iran commands the Strait of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, while Chabahar, the port India operates a terminal at, lies on the Gulf of Oman outside that chokepoint. The Black Sea, named in the India-Russia discussion for its effect on maritime trade and the safety of Indian seafarers, connects to the Mediterranean through the Turkish Straits.
India's formulation — that civilians and civilian infrastructure including commercial shipping and seafarers must not be harmed — reflects a direct national interest: Indians make up a large share of the world's merchant seafarers, and the same concern surfaced in the Russia meeting over the Black Sea.
The SCO's security vocabulary, embedded in the Shanghai Convention and the RATS mandate, is terrorism, separatism and extremism — a phrasing that appears in almost every SCO document and is worth recognising.
The chokepoint through which a large share of the world's seaborne crude passes. Chabahar's location outside it is the strategic argument for the port, alongside the bypass of Pakistan.
India is simultaneously in the SCO with Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran, and in the Quad with the US, Japan and Australia. The ability to hold both is the standard illustration of multi-alignment in GS Paper 2.
The peace agreement whose implementation Pashinyan briefed on follows the long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; India's defence exports to Armenia have made the South Caucasus a live file for Indian foreign policy rather than a distant one.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India
General Awareness > International Organisations and Summits
General Awareness > International Current Affairs
General Awareness > India's Strategic Partnerships and Regional Security
The SCO features in UPSC Prelims and in general-awareness papers most years, especially in a summit year.
The 1996 grouping of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that preceded the SCO; Uzbekistan's accession in 2001 turned it into the SCO.
The SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, headquartered at Tashkent, mandated against terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The formal designation of the India-Russia relationship, sustained through an Annual Summit and an Inter-Governmental Commission.
The 7,200 km International North-South Transport Corridor established by an India-Iran-Russia agreement of September 2000, linking the Indian Ocean to Northern Europe through Iran and the Caspian.
The terminal at Chabahar Port, Iran, that India Ports Global Limited operates under a 10-year agreement signed in May 2024.