India Invites Pak to SCO Meet in
Delhi on 20 Nov
India
Invites Pakistan to First SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi (November 20–22, 2026)
1.
Pakistan Invited: India has invited Pakistan to participate in the
inaugural Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational
Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from 20–22 November 2026.
2.
Invitation to 25 Countries:
o
India has sent invitations to 25 countries,
including SCO member states.
o
15 countries have confirmed participation so far.
o
China, Iran and Kazakhstan are among the confirmed
participants.
3.
Prime Minister's Participation:
o
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the
inauguration on 20 November 2026.
o
Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat expressed hope that Pakistan would participate.
4.
Venue: The forum will be hosted at Purana Qila, New Delhi.
5.
Key Objectives:
o
Strengthen cultural understanding and
people-to-people contacts among SCO members.
o
Promote shared civilisational
heritage.
o
Expand cultural cooperation beyond the SCO's
traditional geopolitical agenda.
6.
Agenda:
o
Discussions on multinational nominations for UNESCO
heritage sites.
o
Promotion of shared cultural heritage.
o
Greater regional cultural cooperation and mutual
understanding.
7.
India-Pakistan Engagement:
o
Pakistan's Minister for National Heritage and
Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, has been invited.
o
The invitation comes despite strained bilateral
relations.
o
Previous SCO engagements included Pakistan Foreign
Minister Bilawal Bhutto's visit to India in 2023 and External Affairs Minister
S. Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan in 2024.
o
Neither visit resulted in a bilateral meeting.
8.
Origin of the Initiative:
o
Prime Minister Modi proposed the Civilisational Dialogue Forum during his visit to Tianjin
for the SCO Summit in 2025.
o
India's decision to host its inaugural edition was
announced by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the SCO
Council of Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in October
2026.
Significance: India is using the SCO platform to expand regional
engagement beyond geopolitics by promoting shared civilisational
heritage, cultural cooperation and people-to-people relations, including
engagement with Pakistan.
[ABS News Service/14.11.2026]
India
has invited Pakistan to the inaugural Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20
to 22, with Union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
saying he remained hopeful that Islamabad would participate.
"I
should be hopeful that they will come," Shekhawat
said at a press conference while discussing the invitations sent to
participating countries.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi will attend the inauguration of the forum on November
20, Shekhawat said.
According
to the minister, India sent invitations to 25 countries, including SCO member
states, and 15 have confirmed their participation so far. China, Iran and
Kazakhstan are among the countries that have confirmed their presence.
The
forum will be held at Purana Qila in Delhi and is intended to strengthen
cultural understanding and people-to-people ties among SCO member states.
Shekhawat said the grouping should serve as more
than a geopolitical platform and also provide a space for countries to discuss
their shared civilisational heritage.
Unesco
sites, shared heritage on agenda
The
minister said discussions at the forum would include multinational nominations
for Unesco sites. The initiative is also expected to
promote cultural cooperation and a better understanding of the region's shared
heritage.
The
proposal for the civilisational dialogue forum was
put forward by PM Modi during his visit to Tianjin for the SCO summit last
year. The initiative was aimed at fostering closer people-to-people connections
and cultural understanding within the grouping.
India's
invitation to Pakistan comes despite strained bilateral ties. Pakistan's
minister for national heritage and culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi,
was invited to the meeting.
The
SCO has continued to provide a platform for engagement between the two
countries even in the absence of substantive bilateral talks.
Pakistan's
then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto visited India in 2023 for an SCO foreign
ministers' meeting, while external affairs minister S Jaishankar
travelled to Pakistan in 2024 for a meeting of the grouping's heads of
government. Neither visit resulted in a bilateral meeting.
India to host inaugural
edition
India's
decision to host the first SCO Civilisation Dialogue Forum was announced by
defence minister Rajnath Singh at the SCO Council of
Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, last month.
Singh
had invited all SCO member countries to participate in the initiative, which is
intended to strengthen cultural ties and mutual understanding.
He
had also referred to the need for closer cooperation among member states on
security, connectivity and regional opportunities, while stressing a collective
approach to tackling terrorism.
The
forum in Delhi will be the inaugural edition of the initiative.