India to Host the First SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum by End-2026, Rajnath Singh Announces at Dushanbe

20 October 2026National

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced at the 25th SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on 20 October 2026 that India will host the first SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum by the end of 2026. The forum, proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2025 SCO Summit in Tianjin, will deepen people-to-people ties and showcase the shared heritage, art and literature of ancient civilisations. The Dushanbe meeting adopted a joint communique approving the SCO budget for 2027 and the PMTEC Action Plan for 2026-2030. Singh also highlighted Mission LiFE and the Global Biofuel Alliance.

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The SCO was founded in 2001 at Shanghai and now has ten members, with Belarus joining in 2024 | The SCO Secretariat is at Beijing and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) Executive Committee is at Tashkent | The Council of Heads of State is the SCO's supreme body, while the Council of Heads of Government is its second-highest body and approves the budget

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