Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar will inaugurate the two-day Margalla Dialogue 2026 in Islamabad today, staying back in the federal capital while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif departs for Turkiye to attend the COP31 climate conference.
The prime minister is travelling to Turkiye on Tuesday to attend the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference in the historic city of Antalya, which begins on Wednesday and will be inaugurated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Foreign Secretary Asim Iftikhar Ahmad is likely to accompany the prime minister.
According to highly placed diplomatic sources, Dar had to stay back to inaugurate the Margalla Dialogue and the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum in Islamabad, and no other conclusion should be drawn from the development. It would be difficult to postpone either event, the sources said.
The Margalla Dialogue 2026, organised annually by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, is a premier forum on foreign policy and security. This year’s theme is “Global Order in Transition — Navigating Strategic Uncertainty”, covering shifting global power dynamics, evolving alliances and major power competition.
The dialogue will also cover regional geopolitics, national resilience, international law and economic security, including trade and tariff wars. One forum will discuss the changing dynamics of global power and their implications for international peace and security, while another will examine global security, algorithmic warfare and artificial intelligence — including sovereign AI, data regulations and technology risks.
Another major gathering, the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum, begins in Islamabad on Thursday, November 12, at the Jinnah Convention Centre. Dar will inaugurate it, while the prime minister will chair the concluding session on Friday, November 13.
The minerals forum is viewed as a strategic conference on policy and governance, covering exploration and projects such as Reko Diq, alongside an international exhibition for mining technology and ventures. Energy Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Mines, John L. Thornton of Barrick Mining and Isabel Chatterton of the Asian Development Bank are among the key speakers.
The forum is being produced by Wood Mackenzie as lead conference producer, with the forum’s president and Oil and Gas Development Company managing director Ahmed Hayat Lak leading the organisation.
