ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday that Pakistan would be hosting the next Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, and called on authorities to start preparing for the event.

He made the announcement while inaugurating a flyover in the capital, but did not give a date for the summit.

Pakistan last hosted the SCO in 2024 for the Council of Heads of Government Summit, where PM Shehbaz called for investing in the region’s collective capacity for connectivity.

As per the Tainjin Summit Declaration, the next meeting of the SCO Heads of Member States was supposed to be held in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2026. Pakistan’s turn was supposed to come in 2027, that is unless Kyrgyzstan has surrendered its turn to host the meeting.

At a weekly briefing on Friday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan announced that Pakistan officially assumed the Chairmanship of the SCOs Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) on September 10.He said Pakistan, in its capacity as Chair, would lead regional efforts to counter terrorism and extremism through joint activities in cyber security, border control, and countering terrorist financing.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2025