India will host the grouping's first Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, with invitations extended to members, dialogue partners and one observer.

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• MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on October 28 that India has invited all Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members, as per established practice.
• Dialogue partners and one SCO observer have also been invited to the forum.
• The forum will be held in New Delhi from November 20 to 22, 2026, and is the first of its kind in the SCO.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the initiative at the 2025 SCO leaders' summit in Tianjin, and the grouping later adopted it.
• The venue is Purana Quila, a 16th-century fort, and representatives from more than 25 countries are expected.
• Modi is expected to inaugurate the three-day forum.
• The Ministry of Culture is partnering with the Ministry of External Affairs to organise the event.
• Discussions are expected to cover civilisational linkages, cultural diplomacy and cooperation in heritage, education and traditional knowledge systems.
• Diplomatic sources say Pakistan's Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, has also been invited.
• If he attends, it would be the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India since the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Goa in 2023.
• The SCO has 10 member states, including India, Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran, and Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers.
• Pakistan is set to hold the SCO presidency, with the leaders' summit planned for August 2027.