India invites Pak to SCO 1st Civilisational Dialogue Forum in Delhi
By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – India ON Wednesday announced that it will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Civilisational Dialogue Forum in Nerw Delhi from November 20 to 22, with Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, among those invited to attend.
The choice of Purana Quila as the venue underscored India’s emphasis on highlighting its historical and civilisational continuum while hosting a major multilateral cultural event.
According to media reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the three-day forum that will bring together representatives from over 25 countries at Purana Quila, the historic 16th-century fort in Delhi.
The Ministry of Culture has partnered with the Ministry of External Affairs.
Pakistan is yet to confirm who will represent it at the forum. If Khichi attends, this will mark the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India since the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa in 2023, which was attended by Bilawal Bhutto.
The gathering is expected to feature key discussions over civilisational linkages, cultural diplomacy and collaborative initiatives in the fields of heritage, education and traditional knowledge systems.
The initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Modi at the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin in 2025. It was subsequently adopted by the grouping.
The culture ministers from all 10 SCO member states, including Russia, China, the UAE, Iran and Belarus, have been invited, along with representatives from observer and dialogue partner countries.
India has continued to engage with Pakistan within the SCO framework, despite major tensions between the two sides and strained bilateral relations, the report said.
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.
