Pakistan is set to send Federal Minister Dr Musadik Malik to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi, which runs from November 20 to 22. The Foreign Office announced the decision on Saturday.
According to a Foreign Office statement, Malik will lead Pakistan’s delegation at the three-day conference in the Indian capital. The move is a diplomatic step through a multilateral platform, even though ties between Pakistan and India remain strained after their military confrontation in May 2025.
Weeks of uncertainty before the announcement
The announcement followed several weeks in which it was unclear whether Islamabad would attend. On November 6, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan confirmed that Pakistan had received an invitation from India. He said the leadership would make the final decision after institutional consultations.
Indian Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Friday that he hoped Pakistan would attend, arguing that cultural exchanges could help build understanding between the two countries. Indian media reports said New Delhi had first invited Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi. If Malik travels, it would be a rare ministerial-level visit to India since last year’s military hostilities.
Forum agenda and its planned opening in New Delhi
The inaugural forum will be held at the historic Purana Qila, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to open it on November 20. India’s ministries of culture and external affairs are jointly organising the event.
Discussions will cover civilisational and cultural expression, art and architecture, language, literature and manuscripts, along with cooperation on protecting shared cultural heritage. Modi proposed the initiative at the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin, China, in September 2025, and member states later endorsed it. The forum aims to move the grouping beyond its traditional focus on security, politics and economic development toward cultural exchanges and people-to-people contacts.
Indian officials said on Friday that 15 of the 25 invited countries had confirmed their participation. They include China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and several Central Asian states.
Pakistan’s SCO membership and engagement with India
Pakistan and India became full members of the SCO in 2017. The organisation was established in 2001 and now has 10 member states, including China, Russia, Iran and Belarus.
Pakistan currently holds the organisation’s 2026–27 chairmanship of the Council of Heads of State, and it is preparing to host the summit in August 2027. Preparations for next year’s summit are already under way. Despite long-standing bilateral disputes, Islamabad and New Delhi have continued to take part in SCO meetings and other multilateral engagements.
