Indian FM Jaishankar to attend SCO summit in Pakistan

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will visit Pakistan later this month to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman announced on Friday.

The trip, scheduled for October 15-16, will mark the first time in nearly a decade that an Indian foreign minister visits Pakistan.

Jaishankar will lead India's delegation to the SCO summit, which is being hosted in Islamabad under Pakistan’s rotating chairmanship of the regional body.

"On our participation in the SCO summit, yes, the external affairs minister will lead a delegation to Pakistan," the spokesman said, confirming Jaishankar's attendance.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, India confirmed the participation of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar for SCO summit in Islamabad later this month.Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs, India

The last time an Indian foreign minister visited Pakistan was in 2015, when then-External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj traveled to Islamabad for a regional conference on Afghanistan.

The SCO, founded in 2001, is a political and security alliance that includes China, Russia, and several Central Asian countries, with India and Pakistan joining as full members in 2017.

The organization's annual summit provides a platform for member states to discuss regional security, economic cooperation, and other issues of mutual concern.

Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan holds symbolic importance due to the long-standing hostility between the two nations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also invited to the summit, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Office.

In May last year, then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had visited India to attend the two-day meeting of the SCO Cou­ncil of Foreign Ministers.

He was the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in almost 12 years. However, no major breakthroughs were reported during the trip.