Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is expected to meet his Chinese, Russian and Iranian counterparts during a visit to Kyrgyzstan next week as regional powers gather for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
Dar’s visit to Bishkek has been finalised, and he is expected to attend a meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers on July 24, according to the sources.
The gathering will bring the foreign ministers of Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran together as the region faces shifting security and diplomatic challenges.
Dar is expected to hold separate meetings with the foreign ministers of China, Russia and Iran on the sidelines of the conference, the sources said.
The discussions are likely to cover bilateral relations, regional security, economic cooperation and developments affecting South and Central Asia and the wider region.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is also likely to attend the meeting, according to diplomatic sources.
No bilateral meeting between Dar and Jaishankar had been confirmed.
The foreign ministers are expected to review and approve the agenda and draft documents for the SCO Council of Heads of State summit, which Kyrgyzstan is scheduled to host later this year.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to represent Pakistan at the summit, the sources said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also expected to attend, although the participation of individual leaders remains subject to official confirmation.
The summit is expected to conclude with a joint declaration setting out the member states’ positions on regional security, economic cooperation, connectivity and other shared priorities.
Kyrgyzstan currently holds the rotating SCO chairmanship for 2025-26. The organisation’s official website confirms that Bishkek has been hosting a series of ministerial and preparatory meetings during the Kyrgyz chairmanship.
The SCO includes Pakistan, China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
The organisation serves as a platform for cooperation on security, counterterrorism, trade, transport connectivity and regional diplomacy.
The SCO Secretariat had not publicly posted the complete July 24 foreign ministers’ meeting programme or formally confirmed all expected participants by Tuesday. Its latest public updates show that preparations and coordination meetings under Kyrgyzstan’s chairmanship were continuing.
Reporter: Anwer Abbas