India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (file photo)
External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, is set to visit Pakistan on October 15-16 for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting, marking a significant interaction amid historically tense Indo-Pak relations.
Pakistan, currently holding the SCO's rotating chairmanship, is hosting this two-day, in-person gathering in Islamabad.
Typically attended by Prime Ministers, the SCO Heads of Government meeting is the second-highest forum within the eight-member SCO, which includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Pakistan extended the invitation to India, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in August.
India has consistently been represented at the meeting by senior officials, with Jaishankar attending the last SCO meeting in Bishkek and, in previous years, former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attending. Notably, when India hosted the meeting virtually in 2020, Pakistan sent its parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs.
The SCO, an influential economic and security alliance, has grown into one of the world’s largest trans-regional organizations, bringing together countries with diverse yet converging security and economic interests.