Togo / Bishkek 2026: H.E. Faure Gnassingbé speaks on behalf of Africa at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit
The invitation extended to Togolese Council President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé to attend the 26th Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which opens on August 31, 2026, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is one such case. Among the list of participants at this gathering of Eurasian powers, Togo stands alongside Egypt as one of only two African nations invited two countries tasked with carrying the voice of a continent of 1.4 billion people into a forum that is reshaping the contours of global governance.
Held under the theme “25 Years of the SCO: Together for Lasting Peace, Development, and Prosperity,” the summit marks a quarter-century for an organisation that began quietly and has since grown into one of the world’s most influential geopolitical platforms.
Bringing together major powers such as China, Russia, India, and several Central Asian nations, the SCO offers a multilateral alternative to traditional Western institutions.
The Bishkek agenda reflects both the ambition and the complexity of the issues at hand. Countering terrorism, violent extremism, and cybercrime will take centre stage in a region where these threats continue to weigh heavily on member states’ stability.
Infrastructure development and connectivity policies will also feature prominently, building on a strategic vision that views physical links between nations as a lever for economic strength and geopolitical influence.
Perhaps the most closely watched topic, however, is the question of an independent financial architecture.
Several SCO members are pursuing mechanisms for financing and trade that bypass the dollar and the Bretton Woods institutions an ambition that resonates particularly in Africa, where dependence on Western financial systems remains one of the deepest constraints on economic sovereignty.
By making the journey to Bishkek, Faure Gnassingbé once again affirms Togo’s distinctive diplomatic stance: a country that refuses to pick sides in an increasingly fractured multipolar world, cultivates balanced relations with all major powers, and seizes every opportunity to raise an African voice where it is too often absent.
In the corridors of this Eurasian summit, the presence of the Togolese Council President is no mere formality it is a diplomatic act in itself.
Chantal TAWELESSI
