PM Shehbaz receives guard of honour in Bishkek during Kyrgyzstan visit

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was accorded a guard of honour at the Presidential Palace in Bishkek on Wednesday during his three-day official visit to Kyrgyzstan.

PM Shehbaz is in Kyrgyzstan at the invitation of President Sadyr Nurgozhoevich Zhaparov, and earlier attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State meeting and the SCO Plus Summit. Pakistan also assumed the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2026-27.

The prime minister is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar and senior officials.

PM Shehbaz will hold bilateral talks with President Zhaparov on the full range of Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan relations. The two sides are expected to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in trade and investment, energy, regional connectivity, education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

They will also exchange views on regional and international developments and cooperation through regional and multilateral forums.

Earlier, PM Shehbaz held bilateral meetings with leaders attending the SCO gatherings and participated in the opening ceremony of the World Nomad Games in Bishkek.

Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan share longstanding ties rooted in historical, religious and cultural links. The visit is expected to build on recent high-level exchanges and strengthen practical cooperation between the two countries.

PM Shehbaz warns against weaponising water, takes over SCO chairmanship

Addressing the 26th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, on September 1, PM Shehbaz warned that shared water resources must not be used as a tool of political pressure, as Pakistan assumed the chairmanship for 2026-27 at the bloc’s summit in Kyrgyzstan.

PM Shehbaz said transboundary water agreements were binding international commitments and should be implemented “unconditionally” in both letter and spirit. His remarks came amid tensions between Pakistan and India over the Indus Waters Treaty.

With Pakistan taking over the SCO chair, PM Shehbaz outlined Islamabad’s priorities for the coming year, including information technology and artificial intelligence, energy, poverty reduction, disaster management, healthcare, culture and sports. He proposed an SCO framework for sovereign AI infrastructure and governance aimed at promoting responsible and inclusive technological development.

Pakistan will also host the Global Resilience Expo 2026-27 in Islamabad to strengthen regional cooperation on disaster preparedness, early-warning systems and emergency response. Shehbaz called for implementation of the SCO Development Strategy through 2035 and backed the creation of an SCO Development Bank.

On regional connectivity, he described projects linking member states as a strategic priority and highlighted the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as a route connecting regional economies to the Arabian Sea.

PM Shehbaz also highlighted Pakistan’s diplomatic role in the regional crisis that followed the violation of an SCO member state’s sovereignty, saying Islamabad’s efforts contributed to the June 2026 Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. He described the MoU as a viable path towards lasting peace through dialogue and diplomacy.

He also referred to the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, stressing that it was defensive in nature and not directed against any country.

On security, Shehbaz said terrorism remained a major threat across the SCO region. He said Pakistan had lost more than 90,000 lives and suffered over $150 billion in economic losses during its two-decade-plus fight against terrorism.

He also called for an end to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and urged international action to uphold their right to self-determination.

PM Shehbaz further called for reform of the United Nations to make it more accountable and responsive to an increasingly multipolar world.

At the summit, he signed the joint declaration on behalf of Pakistan, formally marking Islamabad’s assumption of the SCO Council of Heads of State chairmanship for 2026-27.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Bishkek, where they discussed bilateral relations and implementation of the Islamabad MoU.