Ishaq Dar Arrives in Dushanbe to Lead Pakistan at SCO Government Meeting
Dar will hold talks with Tajik leaders and SCO counterparts at the Council of Heads of Government meeting, held October 19-20, as Pakistan prepares to chair the bloc's leaders' summit in 2027
By AXY Pakistan Desk ·
Key points
- Ishaq Dar arrived in Dushanbe on Monday, October 19, to lead Pakistan's delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting.
- The meeting runs October 19-20 at the invitation of Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda.
- Dar is scheduled to meet Tajikistan's president and prime minister and hold bilateral talks with SCO counterparts.
- Pakistan chairs the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2027 and is scheduled to host the leaders' summit in Islamabad.
- Pakistan also chairs SCO-RATS, the bloc's counterterrorism body, a role it assumed last September.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on Monday, October 19, to lead Pakistan's delegation at a high-level meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), according to the Foreign Office. The gathering is the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG), which is being held from October 19 to 20. Dar's trip places Pakistan's top diplomat at the centre of one of the bloc's regular forums on economic and financial cooperation, at a time when Islamabad is preparing to host the organisation's next leaders' summit.
On arrival, Dar was received by Tajikistan's Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Daler Juma, Pakistan's Ambassador to Tajikistan, Irfan Ahmed, and Pakistan's national coordinator for the SCO, Khalil Hashmi. Senior Tajik government officials were also present. Such receptions are a routine but important part of a senior visit, because the embassy and national coordinators usually handle much of the groundwork, from logistics and security to the timing of bilateral meetings.
Dar is in Dushanbe at the invitation of Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda, who is hosting the CHG meeting. According to the Foreign Office, Dar will also call on Tajikistan's president and prime minister during the visit. On the sidelines of the meeting, he is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with his counterparts from other SCO member states.
What the Council of Heads of Government Does
The SCO was founded in 2001 in Shanghai. Its original members were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017, Iran became a member in 2023, and Belarus joined in 2024. The organisation works on security, counterterrorism and economic cooperation, and it has grown into one of the largest regional groupings in Eurasia, covering a large share of the world's population and territory.
The Foreign Office described the CHG as the SCO's second-highest decision-making body. It provides guidance on economic, financial, trade, connectivity and socio-economic cooperation, and it also deals with the organisation's budgetary matters. In plain terms, the heads of government set the practical direction for how member states cooperate on everyday economic questions such as trade rules, transport and infrastructure links and financial arrangements. The heads of state, by contrast, set the bloc's broader strategy and political priorities.
Because budget matters are handled at this level, decisions taken at the CHG can shape how the organisation funds its projects and programmes over the following years. These decisions rarely make headlines, but they determine which initiatives receive support and which do not.
Who Is Attending and Why the Sidelines Matter
The Foreign Office said the prime ministers of Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will represent their countries at the meeting. Iran's vice president and India's external affairs minister will also attend. The wide range of senior officials means that informal discussions on the sidelines may be as significant as the formal sessions, since they give leaders room to discuss trade, energy, transport and regional disputes away from the public agenda.
Analysts who follow multilateral diplomacy often note that the practical value of meetings like this depends less on the final statement than on the bilateral understandings reached in the margins. For Pakistan, Dar's scheduled talks with counterparts from other member states are therefore an important part of the visit. Such meetings allow a country to raise its own priorities directly with partners, rather than waiting for them to appear in a joint document.
Tajikistan is one of the six founding members of the SCO, and Dar's visit reflects Pakistan's efforts to build ties with Central Asian partners. Islamabad has been seeking wider economic and political links across the region, and a visit to Dushanbe fits that broader approach. The Foreign Office has not said which specific bilateral meetings will take place beyond the calls on the Tajik president and prime minister and the talks with SCO counterparts.
Pakistan's Growing Role Within the SCO
The Foreign Office noted that Pakistan assumed the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2027 during an annual summit held in Kyrgyzstan in September. The chairmanship means that Islamabad is scheduled to host the bloc's leaders' summit in 2027. On October 1, Dar chaired a follow-up meeting to review preparations for that summit. Hosting a summit of this kind requires coordination among many ministries and agencies, as well as the logistics of welcoming delegations from across the member states.
Pakistan has taken on other responsibilities within the organisation as well. In July, it hosted the 12th meeting of the Heads of Border Services of the Competent Authorities of the SCO. Islamabad also chairs the SCO's Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, known as SCO-RATS, a role it assumed last September. SCO-RATS is the bloc's permanent body for coordinating counterterrorism cooperation among member states, which means the chairmanship gives Pakistan a voice in shared security priorities across the region.
The Foreign Office also said that Pakistan last hosted the CHG meeting in Islamabad in October 2024. Hosting these gatherings allows a country to shape the agenda and display its diplomatic reach, but it also places a heavy organisational burden on the host government, which must manage security, protocol and the detailed preparation of documents.
Economic and Security Stakes for Pakistan and the Region
For ordinary Pakistanis, the economic agenda of the CHG may matter most, even though it is discussed in diplomatic language. Pakistan has long sought to expand trade, energy and transport links with its neighbours. The SCO's work on connectivity could influence which regional projects move forward. Connectivity discussions typically cover road, rail and energy corridors. Decisions in these areas can affect the cost of goods, the reliability of energy supplies and access to export markets, although the effects usually take years to appear.
The budget role of the CHG is also relevant. Because the council oversees the organisation's budgetary matters, it has a say in how shared SCO resources are allocated among projects and programmes. For a country hosting upcoming events, such as the 2027 leaders' summit, budget decisions can influence how much support is available for organising and delivering those events.
The security dimension is equally important. Pakistan's chairmanship of SCO-RATS places it at the centre of regional counterterrorism coordination. Cooperation of this kind involves intelligence sharing, border management and joint approaches to extremist threats, and it is one of the areas in which member states have often sought common positions. Pakistan's border services hosting in July also fits within this security cooperation framework.
The Foreign Office did not publish a detailed list of the specific agenda items Dar will raise in Dushanbe. As a result, it is not yet clear which projects or trade proposals Pakistan will push for at the meeting. Any concrete outcomes will depend on the bilateral meetings held on the sidelines and on the final documents the meeting adopts.
What to Watch Next
The immediate events are the formal sessions of the CHG on October 19 and 20. Readers should also watch Dar's planned meetings with the Tajik president and prime minister, as well as his talks with counterparts from other SCO member states. Joint statements, bilateral agreements and any announcements on budgets or specific projects will show what the visit has produced.
Looking further ahead, Pakistan's preparations for the 2027 SCO leaders' summit in Islamabad will be a significant test of its diplomatic and organisational capacity. Analysts are likely to watch how Islamabad handles its chairmanship roles, including counterterrorism coordination through SCO-RATS and the economic priorities set by the heads of government. How the country manages these responsibilities in the coming months could shape its standing within the bloc and its influence on regional cooperation.
Questions and answers
Why is Ishaq Dar in Tajikistan?
Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, arrived in Dushanbe to lead Pakistan's delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting. He is attending at the invitation of Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda.
When is the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting?
The meeting is being held from October 19 to 20 in Dushanbe, according to the Foreign Office. The council is the SCO's second-highest decision-making body.
What does the SCO Council of Heads of Government do?
The council provides guidance on economic, financial, trade, connectivity and socio-economic cooperation, and it oversees the organisation's budgetary matters. The Foreign Office described it as the SCO's second-highest decision-making body.
What is Pakistan's role in the SCO in 2027?
Pakistan assumed the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2027 at a summit in Kyrgyzstan in September. Islamabad is scheduled to host the leaders' summit in 2027.
Topics: Ishaq Dar, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Council of Heads of Government, Pakistan Foreign Office, Pakistan foreign policy
Sources: Dawn