"Trade growth among SCO member states carries greater momentum and contributes significantly to global trade expansion," Zhang said. "When the SCO was formally established in 2001, intra-member trade was modest. According to OECD data, goods trade among the current 10 SCO members stood at roughly $38 billion in 2001. By 2024, that figure had exceeded $650 billion — more than 17 times the 2001 level. Over the same period, the member states' total goods trade with the rest of the world rose to about nine times its 2001 level, meaning the growth rate of intra-member trade was nearly double that of their trade with the rest of the world."

　　Based on performance in 2025 and the first half of 2026, Zhang projected that intra-member goods trade among the 10 nations is on track to reach approximately $720 billion in 2026, roughly 19 times the volume recorded in the SCO's founding year.

　　Zhang attributed the rapid expansion in the foreign trade of SCO member states to the group's enlargement and its broadening circle of partners. From six founding members, the SCO has grown to encompass 10 member states, two observer states and 15 dialogue partners, building a larger and more closely knit economic and trade network.

　　The organization has also established a range of nongovernmental cooperation mechanisms, including the SCO Business Council and the SCO Interbank Consortium, which have facilitated economic and trade cooperation among members, as well as with observer states and dialogue partners. Furthermore, the SCO has established cooperative ties with the United Nations and its specialized agencies, alongside other international and regional bodies such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, the Economic Cooperation Organization, or ECO, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, and the Eurasian Economic Commission.