Pakistan Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik will visit India later this month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue in New Delhi, marking the first visit by a Pakistani minister to the country in three years.
The Pakistan Foreign Office announced on Saturday that Malik would represent Islamabad at the three-day meeting scheduled to be held from November 20 to 22.
The meeting is expected to bring together representatives of SCO member states to deliberate on civilisational dialogue, cultural understanding and people-to-people contacts.
In a statement, the Pakistan Foreign Office said Islamabad remained committed to promoting dialogue among civilisations and strengthening people-to-people ties within the SCO framework, based on mutual respect.
India had announced on October 28 that invitations had been extended to all SCO member states to participate in the meeting, in keeping with established practice.
The nomination comes more than three years after Pakistan's then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India in May 2023 to attend the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa.
Malik's proposed visit would be the first by a Pakistani minister to India since then, and the first such visit since the military confrontation between the two countries in May 2025.
India-Pakistan relations have remained strained since the April 22, 2025, terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. India subsequently launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The ensuing military confrontation lasted four days and ended on May 10 following an understanding between the two countries' military officials.
Despite the tensions, both countries have continued engaging through the SCO, a Eurasian grouping that provides a multilateral platform for regional cooperation. India has consistently raised concerns over cross-border terrorism and called for a collective approach to tackling terrorism and its financing within the organisation.
The upcoming meeting also comes ahead of Pakistan hosting the SCO Council of Heads of State summit in 2027. Islamabad has begun preparations for the summit, which is expected to bring the leaders of member countries together.
In September, India sent its SCO National Coordinator Alok Dimri to Islamabad for a preparatory meeting ahead of the next summit. The visit was part of the grouping's ongoing engagements, despite the absence of substantive bilateral engagement between New Delhi and Islamabad
The SCO comprises 10 member states, India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus.
(With inputs from PTI)
