Rajnath Singh to Represent India at SCO Heads of Government Meet in Tajikistan

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to represent India at the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on October 19 and 20.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the meeting will focus on strengthening multilateral cooperation among SCO members, particularly in trade, economy, investment, connectivity, innovation and cultural-humanitarian exchanges.

It is also expected to review the progress of ongoing cooperation initiatives and consider decisions on the organisation’s financial and institutional functioning.

India, the ministry said, remains actively engaged in various SCO mechanisms and contributes to regional cooperation through initiatives in start-ups and innovation, digital public infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges. The meeting will give India a chance to exchange views with other members on advancing practical and mutually beneficial cooperation within the bloc.

WHO ELSE IS IN THE ROOM

The SCO brings together India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to join the meeting virtually, and Singh is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Tajik officials during the visit. The talks centre on trade, economy, investment and connectivity.

The CHG is not the SCO’s summit of heads of state. It is the bloc’s annual economic forum, a meeting of prime ministers or their representatives that focuses on trade, economic and practical cooperation, and on the organisation’s budget and institutional business.

The CHG meets annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the organisation. That explains why India has often sent a minister and not the Prime Minister.

The previous CHG was held in Moscow on November 18, 2025, where External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar represented India. In 2024, Jaishankar attended the CHG in Islamabad, the first high-level visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nine years, and had ruled out bilateral talks.

THE SCO

The SCO grew out of the “Shanghai Five” grouping of the 1990s, which dealt with border security among China, Russia and three Central Asian states, and was formally set up in 2001.

India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024. The bloc spans a large part of Eurasia and counts some of the world’s largest economies and militaries.

For India, it is one of the few forums where it sits at the same table as both China and Pakistan, which makes the SCO a stage for handling regional ties as much as for trade.

New Delhi has used it to push its own priorities, including start-ups, digital public infrastructure and connectivity with Central Asia. Dushanbe is also a regional meeting point for energy and trade corridors, and Tajikistan is a Central Asian partner with which India has long had defence and development ties.

With inputs from ANI