Digital cooperation under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is reshaping the way its member states engage with the world.

Projects range from linking remote livestock traders to global e-commerce platforms to bringing AI-powered medical systems to rural clinics and installing smart monitoring devices at border ports.

Anchored by the Digital Silk Road, the SCO has accelerated collaboration across 5G networks, digital payments, cross-border e-commerce and AI applications. This collaboration lays a technological foundation for shared development and prosperity.

China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center drives transformation

A flagship project for common development is the China-SCO Big Data Cooperation Center.

As of June 2025, the center's regional hub in Karamay, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, had trained more than 300 participants from over 20 government departments, research institutes, think tanks, telecom operators, enterprises and universities across SCO member states, becoming a key platform for digital transformation.

Visiting in June, Uzbekistan's Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov praised China's digital transformation practices, noting their value for advancing "safe city, smart city and AI city" projects in his country.

China continues promoting digital cooperation under the SCO, working to establish an "SCO model" of collaboration.

The country has invested in projects like the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan cross-border fiber-optic cable, cutting regional network latency by 40 percent.

China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and cloud platforms provide digital services to enterprises in Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone.

By building networks integrating infrastructure "hard connectivity" and service "soft connectivity," SCO countries have strengthened their economic exchanges and industrial upgrading through digital technologies.

E-commerce platforms boost cooperation

In March, the Silk Road e-commerce platform Soho Cloud, established by Jiangsu Soho E-Commerce Co. based in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, went online. The platform links nearly 30 Central Asian buyers with over 500 Jiangsu suppliers.

Products from Jiangsu — ranging from baby and maternal goods to home furnishings — are gaining popularity among Central Asian consumers, according to Wang Chong, assistant to the general manager of Jiangsu Soho E-Commerce Co.

Official data shows China's imports from SCO countries via cross-border e-commerce grew 34 percent year on year in 2024.

Projects facilitating cross-border e-commerce among SCO countries offer vivid examples of digital economy cooperation. These range from establishing cross-border logistics systems in Uzbekistan's upgraded e-commerce network to collaboration between a cross-border digital trade industrial park in north China's Tianjin and Uzbekistan enterprises.

China has launched additional initiatives to fuel the cooperation.

The China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area has built a Silk Road e-commerce base to tackle issues such as cross-border settlement in e-commerce cooperation.

Responding to China's call to establish pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation, Shanghai Electronic Certificate Authority Co. has enabled online signing of cross-border trade contracts through secure solutions — including electronic signatures, data encryption and digital seals. The company serves more than 100 clients in China and Russia.

Developing the digital economy is a shared vision of all countries, according to Ahmed Darwish, Egypt's former minister of state for administration development and former chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

The SCO provides a technology-driven and inclusive platform that benefits all participants, Darwish said.

Innovation sharing enhances capabilities

Digital cooperation among SCO countries spans frontier technologies including AI, the Internet of Things, blockchain and 5G.

By sharing innovation and applications, SCO countries are strengthening their digital capabilities and driving technology use across industries, transportation, agriculture, health care, education and energy.

China has provided systematic solutions that help SCO countries leverage their strengths to achieve technological and industrial upgrading, contributing to bridging the digital divide.

A trainee attends a session at the Luban Workshop in Tajikistan. (Photo by Qu Pei/People's Daily)

The country has established 10 Luban Workshops in SCO nations. The workshops are a Chinese vocational education program providing skills training and resource sharing with other countries, offering courses in AI, big data, blockchain, cloud computing and 5G.

Supported by Chinese-provided equipment, D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University in Oskemen, Kazakhstan, introduced the country's first smart transportation course. The program aims to help ease traffic congestion in major urban areas.

Kazakhstan's Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek said Kazakhstan plans to expand successful Luban Workshop practices to more cities and broaden cooperation with China in AI, computer science and engineering.

Digital health has become a priority area of cooperation among SCO countries.

Specialists from China and Kazakhstan jointly conducted a cross-border teleconsultation for a 4-year-old Russian patient at the telemedicine center of the International Medical Department of Xi'an TCM Hospital of Encephalopathy on Aug. 13, 2025.

The hospital in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, offers remote consultations with a distinctive Chinese medicine approach to patients in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and beyond through international smart platforms.

From fiber-optic networks stretching across the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang to cross-border e-commerce platforms spanning Eurasia, digital technologies increasingly bridge people-to-people bonds and foster shared prosperity across SCO countries.

With more innovative projects launching under the SCO, member countries are expected to embrace a brighter digital future together.