IndiaPosted at: Oct 28 2026 10:45PM


Amid strained ties, India invites Pak to SCO Forum

New Delhi, Oct 28 (UNI) India has invited all 10 member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), including Pakistan, to the first SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum, scheduled to be held in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the three-day forum, which will bring together representatives from more than 25 countries at Purana Qila, the historic 16th-century fort in the national capital.
India became a full member of the SCO in 2017. The grouping comprises 10 member states — Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — along with 15 dialogue partners and two observer states, Afghanistan and Mongolia.
The 15 dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, Laos, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
Addressing a media briefing in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, when asked whether India had invited Pakistan to the forum, said, “As per established practice, we have invited all SCO members. We have also invited dialogue partners and one observer to the SCO. They have been invited for the forum, Civilisational Dialogue Forum meeting, which will be held in New Delhi on 20th to 22nd of November, 2026.”
Earlier, diplomatic sources confirmed that India, which is hosting the SCO’s first Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi, had also invited Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, to attend the event.
Pakistan has yet to confirm who will represent it at the forum.
If Minister Khichi attends, it would mark the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India since the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Goa in 2023, which was attended by Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto.
Despite strained bilateral relations, India has continued to engage with Pakistan within the SCO framework.
In September 2026, India sent its SCO National Coordinator, Alok Dimri, to Islamabad for a meeting ahead of Pakistan’s presidency of the grouping and the planned SCO leaders’ summit scheduled for August 2027.
The Ministry of Culture is partnering with the MEA to organise the forum.
The choice of Purana Qila as the venue underscores India’s emphasis on highlighting its historical and civilisational continuum while hosting a major multilateral cultural event.
The gathering is expected to feature discussions on civilisational linkages, cultural diplomacy and collaborative initiatives in heritage, education and traditional knowledge systems.
The initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Modi at the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin in 2025 and was subsequently adopted by the grouping.
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Tags: #Amid strained ties# India invites Pak to SCO Forum
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