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Pakistan Climate Minister to Visit India for SCO DialoguePakistan
The visit to New Delhi for the SCO Civilisational Dialogue would be the first by a Pakistani minister in more than three years, with ties between the two countries strained since last year’s four-day war.
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Pakistan will send its climate minister, Musadik Masood Malik, to a regional meeting in India later this month, a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.
According to the spokesperson, the minister will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue in New Delhi, scheduled for 20–22 November 2026.
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It would be the first visit to India by a Pakistani minister in more than three years. The last such high-level visit was in May 2023, when then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari travelled to Goa for a meeting of SCO foreign ministers.
The SCO is a political and security grouping spanning much of Eurasia, including China and Russia among its members. The grouping was founded in 2001 and has grown into one of the largest regional organisations in the world by population and geography. Its members cooperate on security, trade and cultural ties, and its meetings rotate among member states.
Relations between Islamabad and New Delhi have been strained, Reuters noted, since a four-day war in 2025. Diplomatic contacts between the two countries have remained limited since then, and ministerial-level visits have not taken place.
The dialogue in New Delhi is a civilisational forum under the SCO framework, focused on cultural and civilisational exchanges among member states rather than a bilateral meeting. No bilateral meeting between Pakistani and Indian officials has been announced in connection with the visit.
The foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed the visit while speaking on Saturday, according to reports. Further details of the minister’s programme in New Delhi were not immediately available.
The visit comes as Pakistan continues to take part in SCO forums. The grouping’s meetings are held regularly among member states, and Pakistan has attended SCO events in other member countries in recent years.
Climate change has been a recurring theme in regional discussions in South Asia, one of the regions most exposed to extreme weather. Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, having faced severe floods in recent years.
Observers will watch whether the visit leads to any contact between officials of the two countries on the sidelines of the dialogue. For now, the visit has been described as participation in a multilateral forum.
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