India will host the first Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum by the end of this year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Tuesday while addressing the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, according to PTI and ANI reports.
Source: PTI via The Hindu BusinessLine
"India, at the end of this year, will host the first SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum. We invite all SCO member countries to participate in it," Singh said, as quoted by ANI.
Source: ANI via Latestly
The forum was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO summit in Tianjin in 2025 to strengthen people-to-people ties and share the richness of ancient civilisations, art, literature and traditions on a global stage, the reports said.
Singh also referred to the SCO's 25-year journey, which leaders reviewed at the Bishkek summit, and recalled Modi's three pillars for the bloc — security, connectivity and opportunity — saying the time had come to turn them into concrete outcomes, with peace and security as the first requirement.
He stressed a collective and uncompromising approach against terrorism, saying it causes loss of innocent lives and disrupts investment and commerce, IANS reported from Dushanbe.
Source: IANS via HiIndia
The inaugural SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum will be hosted by India by the end of 2026. All SCO member countries have been invited. The idea, proposed by PM Modi in 2025, is to deepen cultural and people-to-people ties across the bloc.