Kyrgyzstan has been earning its long-time moniker as the “Switzerland” of Central Asia of late, having already hosted a flurry of senior diplomatic visits this summer, ahead of a busy few weeks that will see the Shanghai Cooperation Organization celebrate its 25th anniversary with a summit in Bishkek, and the biannual World Nomad Games again setting up camp on the banks of Issyk-Kul.
In regional terms, the most significant of these visits to Kyrgyzstan arguably came at the end of July, when the five leaders of the Central Asian republics were joined by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the resort town of Cholpon-Ata for a high-level get-together.
This was the group’s first gathering since November 2025, when Baku was formally welcomed as a participant at the seventh official Consultative Meeting of Heads of State of Central Asia, the region’s annual leaders summit..
At first glance, the one-day summit had all of the hallmarks of a typical Consultative Meeting. It was used as an opportunity to announce trade deals — such as the expansion of the Kyrgyz-Azerbaijani Development Fund from $100 million to $200 million — and featured the platitudes regularly offered and proposals regularly made by Central Asia’s presidents.
