Pakistan will be the host country for the next Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in 2027. The announcement was made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, on Friday, as he directed the respective authorities to begin preparations for the same in Islamabad, the country’s capital.
Sharif was addressing a road development project in the Rawat area of Rawalpindi when he said, “We have to start preparing now. We need to build accommodation and beautify Islamabad.” Though the date for the summit has not been announced by Sharif yet. The announcement to host the next summit comes less than a fortnight after the SCO Summit in Tianjin, China, where Pakistan raised the issue of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
India has kept the IWT treaty in abeyance after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed. In the recent SCO summit, the member states, in a declaration, also strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and concurred with India's position that "double standards" in the fight against terrorism are not at all acceptable.
The influential grouping also condemned the terror attacks in Khuzdar and on Jaffer Express, both in Pakistan's Balochistan province.
The last time Pakistan hosted the SCO summit was in 2024, for the Council of Heads of Government Summit, where Sharif called for investing in the region’s collective capacity for connectivity. The Pakistani government had then declared a three-day holiday for the summit.
Founded in Shanghai in June 2001, the SCO has expanded from six founding members into a 26-nation family of 10 members, two observers, and 14 dialogue partners spanning Asia, Europe, and Africa.
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