Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is scheduled to visit Pakistan for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, taking place in Islamabad on October 15-16.
On August 30, India confirmed that it had received an invitation from Pakistan for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting, which Pakistan will host during its rotating chairmanship of the council.
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As chair, Pakistan will conduct the two-day SCO Heads of Government summit in person, preceded by a ministerial meeting and several senior officials’ discussions focused on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among SCO member states.
The SCO was established in 2001 at a summit in Shanghai by leaders from Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017, and Iran joined as a permanent member during a virtual summit hosted by India last year. The SCO has evolved into an important trans-regional organization emphasizing economic and security collaboration.
India hosted the last SCO summit virtually in 2023, with former Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif participating via video link.
