NEW DELHI: India will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) first Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi between November 20 and 22, with Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, among those invited to attend, diplomatic sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the forum, which will bring together representatives from more than 25 countries at Purana Quila, a 16th-century fort in the national capital of India.
The Ministry of Culture will partner with the Ministry of External Affairs in organising the event. The initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin in 2025 and subsequently adopted by the grouping.
Culture ministers from all 10 member states, including Russia, China, the UAE, Iran and Belarus, have been invited, along with representatives from observer and dialogue partner countries, sources said.
Pakistan has yet to confirm who will attend the event.
If Khichi attends, it would 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.
Despite its strained bilateral relations with the neighbour, India has continued to participate in SCO engagements involving Pakistan. In September 2026, India sent SCO National Coordinator Alok Dimri to Islamabad for a meeting ahead of Pakistan’s presidency of the grouping and its planned SCO leaders’ summit in August 2027.