Digital Silk Road a growth engine for SCO

In the 25 years since its establishment, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has evolved into an important platform for political, economic and humanitarian cooperation across Eurasia.

The Bishkek summit has given the organization's next phase a clearer shape, with digitalization, artificial intelligence, connectivity and other emerging areas gaining greater prominence in its development agenda.

The global economy is rapidly changing. While traditional drivers such as natural resources, manufacturing, transport and trade still matter, data, artificial intelligence, digital platforms and online services have become the new drivers of growth.

Digitalization should not be seen merely as another sector; it is the backbone of a new Eurasian economy. The historical Silk Road connected regions through trade, transportation, and the exchange of technologies and knowledge. The modern Silk Road can do the same through digital technologies.

Consider the journey of a shipment crossing borders. Along with the goods come customs declarations, certificates, payment records, origin data and logistics information. The modern economy depends not only on how fast a train or truck moves, but on how quickly information moves with it.

Enter the Digital Silk Road, a digital environment that integrates transportation, trade, finance, manufacturing, public administration, and human capital. The SCO has already laid the groundwork, adopting a cooperation framework on digitalization and information technologies in 2019, followed by a digital transformation action plan in 2025.

The Bishkek summit has now added new substance to this agenda. Among the 28 outcome documents adopted at the summit were a concept for developing regional data centers, computing capacity and the artificial intelligence industry, an intergovernmental memorandum on AI cooperation, and a plan for international information security cooperation for 2026-28. These measures suggest that digital cooperation is moving from a broad policy aspiration toward infrastructure, institutional frameworks and practical cooperation.

The digital agenda is therefore becoming an integral part of the SCO's institutional development. The SCO's strength lies in the vast economic space its members represent. China boasts one of the world's largest digital markets and a powerful technological base. India is a world leader in IT and digital services.

Russia offers significant expertise in software development, AI, and digital public administration. Central Asian countries have substantial potential for digitalizing trade, transportation, energy, agriculture, and public services. When these capabilities are interconnected, they can form a vast digital ecosystem.

However, one common mistake must be avoided: the Digital Silk Road should not become merely a mechanism for exporting technologies from advanced countries to less developed ones. Genuine integration is when joint projects, local centers of expertise, new companies, jobs, and regional value chains are created.

E-commerce is a practical place to start. For Kyrgyzstan, this is particularly important. A small enterprise in Bishkek or Osh could potentially sell its products to consumers in China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, or Iran. Achieving this requires addressing a complex range of issues related to payments, logistics, certification, customs procedures, consumer protection, and digital identification.

Therefore, the next step should not be expanding e-commerce but making cross-border digital trade easier. This could include mutual recognition of electronic documents, digital certificates of origin, simplified customs procedures, and interoperable systems for tracking goods.

E-commerce could be the first building block of the Digital Silk Road, and AI could be the next. AI can optimize transportation routes, forecast demand, manage energy systems, improve agricultural productivity, detect financial risks, and automate public services.

This is why the SCO has developed several new platforms for cooperation, including areas related to the digital economy and AI. China has launched seven platforms covering green industry, digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, energy, higher education, vocational and technical education, and artificial intelligence, involving more than 160 projects.

A digital economy cannot function without trust. The SCO must therefore establish common rules for data protection, cybersecurity, digital identity and the responsible use of AI.

The integration of digital and transport agendas is particularly promising. For Kyrgyzstan, this directly connects with the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. While a physical transport corridor facilitates the movement of goods, its efficiency increases substantially when paired with a digital corridor.

Imagine cargo data reaching customs and logistics systems before a train arrives at the border. Documents are verified electronically, goods are tracked in real time and payments move through compatible systems. The border then becomes less of a barrier.

That is why the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway should be seen as more than a railway. It could become part of the digital infrastructure of 21st-century Eurasia. For Kyrgyzstan, the SCO's digital transformation offers an opportunity to carve out a niche in digital logistics, e-commerce, fintech and AI for mountainous regions.

Human capital will be critical. By training programmers, engineers and AI specialists, Kyrgyzstan can export digital services, not just goods. Its 2025-26 SCO chairmanship has already prioritized digitalization, hosting an AI forum and a meeting of digitalization officials in Bishkek, followed by talks on industrial digitalization and innovation.

But digital integration also poses risks, from technological dependence and cybersecurity threats to data protection and digital inequality. The goal should be to not only connect countries but also empower local businesses, universities and entrepreneurs to build the digital economy.

The SCO should work toward common standards for electronic documents, digital identification, cross-border payments, data protection, cybersecurity and AI. This is an opportunity to turn broad declarations into practical rules for a cross-border digital economy.

The Digital Silk Road can indeed become a new engine of economic growth for the SCO, but only if it is understood not as a collection of IT projects, but as a new model of Eurasian economic connectivity, linking digital infrastructure, AI, e-commerce, transport, talent and common rules.

For Kyrgyzstan, this is a chance to turn geography from a constraint into an advantage. Sitting at the crossroads of China, Central Asia and South Asia, it can aspire to be both a digital bridge and a transit hub. This is one of the most promising outcomes of Kyrgyzstan's chairmanship of the SCO.

The historical Silk Road carried silk, spices and ideas. The new one will carry data, knowledge, technology and talent.

The author is a professor at Kyrgyz National University, former ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Kyrgyz Republic to the Republic of Azerbaijan and concurrently to Georgia, and a former member of the Central Electoral Commission of Kyrgyzstan.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.