SCO Summit: PM Shehbaz says water must never be weaponised

BISHKEK/ ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday highlighting the ex­traordinary potential of the SCO region called for united efforts to advance the development agenda through trans-regional connectivity initiatives, energy projects and collaboration in IT & AI, poverty reduction, health, and sports to chose cooperation over confrontation for regional peace and prosperity.“Together, let us turn the vision of the SCO into action, its prom­ise into progress, and its prog­ress into a better future for all. Let us, therefore, move forward together with the resolve that, in a time of uncertainty, history will record the SCO as having chosen cooperation over confrontation, dialogue over division, bridges over barriers, and hope over fear. Let history record that the SCO did not merely witness a chang­ing world – we helped shape it,” the prime minister said while ad­dressing the 26th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State.

PM Shehbaz said Pakistan would pursue its incoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisa­tion (SCO) chairmanship under an action plan proposing to prior­itise aforementioned key priority sectors during Pakistan’s tenure.

He proposed establishing an SCO Sovereign AI Infrastructure and Governance Framework to promote responsible and inclusive AI development, strengthen digital sover­eignty, and ensure no mem­ber state was left behind. He also announced that Pakistan would host the Global Resil­ience Expo 2026-2027 in Is­lamabad to enhance regional disaster management, early warning and response coor­dination.

Thanking Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov for hosting the summit and for his coun­try’s successful SCO chair­manship, the prime minis­ter said Pakistan took great pride in being part of the or­ganisation as it marked twen­ty-five years since its found­ing. He described the SCO’s growth from a tender sap­ling into a towering tree that provided security and stabil­ity to the region. He said Pa­kistan’s sustained diplomatic efforts as an honest and sin­cere mediator and facilitator had culminated in the signing of the Islamabad Memoran­dum of Understanding, which he called the most viable and enduring pathway to lasting peace in the region.

The prime minister also re­ferred to the recently signed trilateral Makkah Joint De­fence Agreement, describing it as an expression of shared commitment to sovereignty, territorial integrity, collective security and regional peace. He clarified that the agree­ment was “fundamentally de­fensive in nature” and was not directed against any state. The prime minister said the current global landscape was marked by intensifying geo­political tensions, a fragment­ing global economy, escalating climate crises and unprece­dented technological change, and that the SCO represented the collective resolve of mem­ber states to navigate these challenges together.

Reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to the UN and SCO charters, he said the country had staunchly advo­cated peace when the sover­eignty and territorial integ­rity of an SCO member state was violated earlier this year, triggering a major region­al crisis whose disruption of energy supply routes had im­posed a heavy economic cost on Pakistan and the wider in­ternational community.

The prime minister, turning to the situation in the Mid­dle East, said the plight of the people of Gaza and the West Bank continued unabated, causing unimaginable suffer­ing, and called on the inter­national community to help the Palestinian people and other oppressed nations se­cure their right to self-deter­mination.

On regional water resourc­es, he said water was the life­blood of the region and must never be weaponised or used as an instrument of coercion or political leverage, add­ing that treaties governing shared waters were binding international commitments that must be honoured un­conditionally. Highlighting Pakistan’s counter-terror­ism record, the prime minis­ter said the country had sac­rificed over ninety thousand lives and suffered econom­ic losses exceeding USD 150 billion over the past two and a half decades in the fight against terrorism. As chair of the SCO Regional Anti-Ter­rorism Structure (SCO RATS), he said Pakistan had worked actively to strengthen region­al counter-terrorism cooper­ation, while reiterating that peace in the region would re­main elusive so long as ter­rorist elements continued to use Afghan soil to attack Pa­kistan and other neighbour­ing countries. On regional connectivity, the prime min­ister said the China-Paki­stan Economic Corridor con­tinued to serve as a gateway linking regional economies to the Arabian Sea, and re­affirmed Pakistan’s com­mitment to trans-regional railway projects, road con­nectivity initiatives and re­gional energy schemes.

He called for full imple­mentation of the SCO Devel­opment Strategy until 2035 and said the establishment of the SCO Development Bank would be a critical step in that direction. He noted that Pakistan, as permanent chair of the SCO’s Special Working Group on Poverty Reduction, would continue strengthen­ing social protection and in­clusive development across the region. The prime min­ister in concluding his ad­dress said that just as many streams together made a mighty river, the combined strength and aspirations of SCO nations held limitless potential. He expressed hope that history would record the SCO as an organisation that chose cooperation over con­frontation, dialogue over di­vision, bridges over barriers, and hope over fear.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif also signed the joint declaration of SCO Council of Heads of State Summit. The summit was at­tended by heads of state and government of SCO mem­ber countries along with SCO Secretary General Nurlan Yermekbayev.