India Invites Pakistan to Inaugural SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum

India will host the inaugural Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, 2026. The event, which will take place at the Purana Quila, was proposed by Narendra Modi at the 2025 SCO leaders' summit in Tianjin to promote cultural understanding and shared heritage through sessions on art, architecture, and philosophy.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of External Affairs, the forum has extended invitations to culture ministers from all 10 SCO member states and 15 dialogue partners. India specifically invited Pakistan's Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi. The Pakistani government is currently consulting internally to determine its level of representation.

If Minister Khichi attends, it would be the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India since May 2023 and the first since a May 2025 military confrontation triggered by a terror attack in Pahalgam. That conflict resulted in reciprocal diplomatic restrictions, including India placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian aircraft. While Pakistan currently holds the SCO presidency and will host the heads of state summit in August 2027, the SCO remains one of the few remaining platforms for official contact between the two nations.