India confirmed on Friday that it has received an invitation from Pakistan to attend the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in October.
On Thursday, Pakistan extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting.
“Yes, we have received an invitation from Pakistan for the SCO’s Council of Heads of State meeting that is to happen. We do not have an update on that,” stated a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs during a media briefing in New Delhi.
Pakistan currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) and will be hosting the two-day in-person meeting on October 15-16 in Islamabad.
“Invitations have been sent to the heads of countries to participate in the meeting, which will take place on October 15-16. An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,” confirmed Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch during her weekly press briefing in Pakistan.
Some countries have already confirmed their participation, and their names will be announced in due course, she added.
The Islamabad summit will be preceded by a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials’ meetings, focusing on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among SCO member states.
The SCO was established at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members of the organisation in 2017.
In July of the previous year, Iran was admitted as a permanent member of the SCO during a virtual summit hosted by India. The SCO has grown to become one of the largest and most influential trans-regional international organisations, focusing on economic and security cooperation.
As members of this key regional group, both Pakistan and India have the opportunity to host and participate in summit meetings. India hosted the SCO Summit last year, which was conducted virtually and attended by then Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif via video link.
In May 2023, Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India to attend the in-person two-day meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Goa. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s visit marked the first by a Pakistani foreign minister to India in nearly 12 years.
Relations between Islamabad and New Delhi have historically been strained, primarily due to the Kashmir issue and concerns over cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistan.
