S. Jaishankar to Attend SCO Summit in Pakistan, first Visit by an Indian Foreign Minister

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will visit Pakistan later this month to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ‘Heads of Government’ summit.

This would be Jaishankar’s first visit to Pakistan as foreign minister of India. Jaishankar’s trip also marks the first official visit by an Indian Foreign Minister to Islamabad in nine years.

Sushma Swaraj was the last foreign minister to visit Pakistan when she led the Indian delegation to the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process in Islamabad on December 8-9, 2015.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “EAM Jaishankar will lead a delegation to Pakistan for the SCO summit which will be held in Islamabad on 15th and 16th October.

In August 2016, Rajnath Singh, then Home Minister, visited Islamabad for a meeting of SAARC Ministers of Interior/Home. In 2018, then Union Ministers Harpreet Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri crossed the border to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of “Kartarpur Corridor”.

Pakistan, as the current holder of the rotating chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG), will host the two-day SCO Heads of Government Meeting in October.