NEW DELHI: India has invited Pakistan to the inaugural Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, with Union culture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat saying he remained hopeful that Islamabad would participate.“I should be hopeful that they will come,” Shekhawat said at a press conference while discussing the invitations sent to participating countries.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the inauguration of the forum on November 20, Shekhawat said.According to the minister, India sent invitations to 25 countries, including SCO member states, and 15 have confirmed their participation so far. China, Iran and Kazakhstan are among the countries that have confirmed their presence.The forum will be held at Purana Qila in Delhi and is intended to strengthen cultural understanding and people-to-people ties among SCO member states.Shekhawat said the grouping should serve as more than a geopolitical platform and also provide a space for countries to discuss their shared civilisational heritage.
Unesco sites, shared heritage on agenda
The minister said discussions at the forum would include multinational nominations for Unesco sites. The initiative is also expected to promote cultural cooperation and a better understanding of the region’s shared heritage.The proposal for the civilisational dialogue forum was put forward by PM Modi during his visit to Tianjin for the SCO summit last year. The initiative was aimed at fostering closer people-to-people connections and cultural understanding within the grouping.India’s invitation to Pakistan comes despite strained bilateral ties. Pakistan’s minister for national heritage and culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, was invited to the meeting.The SCO has continued to provide a platform for engagement between the two countries even in the absence of substantive bilateral talks.
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Pakistan’s then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto visited India in 2023 for an SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, while external affairs minister S Jaishankar travelled to Pakistan in 2024 for a meeting of the grouping’s heads of government. Neither visit resulted in a bilateral meeting.
India to host inaugural edition
India’s decision to host the first SCO Civilisation Dialogue Forum was announced by defence minister Rajnath Singh at the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, last month.Singh had invited all SCO member countries to participate in the initiative, which is intended to strengthen cultural ties and mutual understanding.He had also referred to the need for closer cooperation among member states on security, connectivity and regional opportunities, while stressing a collective approach to tackling terrorism.The forum in Delhi will be the inaugural edition of the initiative.
