Indian delegation in Pakistan for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation talks
Senior official leads delegation to key meeting as Islamabad prepares for 2027 summit
Dubai: A senior Indian official is visiting Pakistan for the first time since last year’s brief conflict between the two neighbours, leading a delegation to a key Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Islamabad.
Alok Dimri, Joint Secretary in India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the country’s national coordinator for the SCO, is heading the Indian delegation at the three-day meeting of the grouping’s Council of National Coordinators, which began on Monday and runs until September 30. Indian media described Dimri’s visit as the first by an official of his seniority to Pakistan in about a year and a half.
The visit, according to Indian media reports, is significant although officials are meeting under the SCO’s multilateral framework rather than for bilateral talks.
India and Pakistan, which became full SCO members in 2017, have continued to participate in the organisation’s mechanisms despite tensions between them.
SCO AT A GLANCE
What is it? The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian grouping focused on political, security, economic and regional cooperation.
Members: China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus.
How old? Founded in 2001; it marked its 25th anniversary in 2026. India became a member of the SCO in 2017, along with Pakistan.
What does it focus on? Regional security, counter-terrorism, trade, investment, transport, energy and wider economic cooperation.
Gulf connection: The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait are among the SCO’s dialogue partners.
Why this meeting matters: National coordinators do the groundwork for major SCO meetings, including summits and ministerial gatherings
The Islamabad meeting is the first Council of National Coordinators gathering under Pakistan’s chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2026-27.
National coordinators from member states and representatives of the SCO Secretariat are attending the talks, which are focused on setting the organisation’s programme for the year and preparing for a series of ministerial and other high-level meetings.
The discussions will also help lay the groundwork for the SCO Council of Heads of State summit, which Pakistan is scheduled to host in Islamabad in August 2027.
Pakistan sets priorities
Pakistan has chosen “Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity” as the theme of its chairmanship.
Its Foreign Office said Islamabad would focus on promoting regional connectivity, innovation and economic cooperation as well as strengthening people-to-people contacts.
The aim was to translate the shared vision of SCO members into “practical and mutually beneficial initiatives”, it said.
Pakistan said the coordinators would discuss “a wide range of issues relating to SCO cooperation and coordination”, including preparations for upcoming meetings and events.
The gathering represents one of the first steps in a series of engagements that will culminate in next year’s leaders’ summit.
India’s participation is also notable because New Delhi has continued to separate its involvement in SCO mechanisms from its bilateral disputes with Islamabad.
Pakistan, meanwhile, is expected eventually to invite leaders of all SCO member states to the August 2027 summit, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, although attendance decisions would come later.
In October 2024, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Islamabad for the SCO Heads of Government summit, the first trip to Pakistan by an Indian foreign minister in nearly nine years. In July this year, an Indian delegation also attended a meeting of SCO border service chiefs in the Pakistani capital.
