DPM Ishaq Dar
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to depart for Tianjin, China, tomorrow to represent Pakistan at the upcoming meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), taking place from July 14 to 16, 2025.
According to a statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office, the high-level gathering will see the participation of foreign ministers from all SCO member states. These include China, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. The meeting is particularly notable for the participation of Belarus’s foreign minister for the first time since the country attained full membership in the organisation.
The SCO Council of Foreign Ministers serves as the third-highest decision-making body within the organisation’s structure. The forum plays a crucial role in reviewing international and regional developments, deliberating on security and foreign policy concerns, and finalising key documents and declarations.
These are subsequently forwarded to the SCO’s top decision-making platform — the Council of Heads of State (CHS) — for endorsement. The upcoming CHS summit is scheduled to take place in Tianjin on August 31 and September 1, 2025.
During his stay in China, DPM Dar is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines of the CFM. These discussions will provide an opportunity to strengthen diplomatic ties and discuss regional matters of mutual concern.
This gathering comes amid a tense backdrop, as it marks the second major SCO event in recent months where top officials from both Pakistan and India will be present. Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours remain strained following the armed conflict in May 2025.
The tensions were further highlighted during the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting held in Qingdao, China, on June 26. During that meeting, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reportedly refused to sign a joint declaration after being denied a second opportunity to speak — a request turned down by the Chinese chair in line with protocol.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif later revealed that during his speech, he had raised Pakistan’s concerns over terrorism, specifically mentioning the Jaffar Express attack and the involvement of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. This prompted India to request a rebuttal, which was denied by the host nation. In protest, India declined to endorse the joint statement, making it the only country to do so.
Indian media attributed the refusal to sign the document to the inclusion of references to terrorist activities in Pakistan’s Balochistan and the absence of any mention of the Pahalgam incident in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), where several tourists were killed. India had blamed Pakistan for the attack — an accusation Islamabad firmly rejected.
As tensions simmer, the upcoming SCO foreign ministers’ meeting may serve as a critical platform for diplomatic engagement, even if only symbolic, between the two adversaries — all within the broader framework of regional cooperation and multilateral diplomacy.
