India Invites Pakistan Minister for Upcoming SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum

India has extended an invitation to Pakistan to attend the inaugural meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) civilisational dialogue forum, scheduled to be hosted in India next month. According to reports, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, Pakistan's minister for national heritage and culture, has been invited to the upcoming event.

The initiative for the dialogue forum was originally proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the SCO summit in Tianjin last year, with the stated aim of fostering enhanced cultural understanding and people-to-people connections among member states.

Context of High-Level SCO Engagements

Despite a lack of formal bilateral talks between India and Pakistan for over ten years, exchanges under the Eurasian bloc framework have occasionally continued. Previous high-level visits within the SCO context include:

• Former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto's visit to India in 2023 for the SCO foreign ministers' meeting.
• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's travel to Pakistan the following year for the SCO heads of government meeting.
• Neither visit involved separate bilateral discussions between the two nations.

Recent Diplomatic Contacts

The invitation for the civilisational dialogue follows recent diplomatic interactions within the bloc. Weeks prior to this invitation, India's SCO national coordinator, Alok Dimri, travelled to Pakistan to participate in high-level meetings aimed at finalising the agenda and preparations for the grouping's upcoming events leading to the Islamabad summit next year. Pakistan currently holds the SCO presidency and is set to host the heads of state summit next year.

Readers seeking to verify details regarding international diplomatic schedules and multilateral forums can consult official announcements from the Ministry of External Affairs or official SCO communications channels.