India will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) first Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, with Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, among those invited to attend, diplomatic sources said.
The Ministry of Culture is partnering with the Ministry of External Affairs to organise the event. The choice of Purana Quila as the venue underscores India’s emphasis on highlighting its historical and civilisational continuum while hosting a major multilateral cultural event. Pakistan has yet to confirm who will represent it at the forum.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the three-day forum, which will bring together representatives from more than 25 countries at Purana Quila, the historic 16th-century fort in the national capital. The initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Modi at the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin in 2025 and was subsequently adopted by the grouping. If Minister 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.
Officials said the Civilisational Dialogue Forum aims to promote cultural understanding, shared heritage and people-to-people exchanges among SCO member states and partner countries.
