ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will send a federal minister to New Delhi next week to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) cultural dialogue, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, marking a rare high-level visit to India amid strained relations following last year’s military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

The visit by Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik will take place as diplomatic engagement between the longtime rivals remains limited, with previous SCO meetings providing rare opportunities for senior officials from the two countries to travel across the border.

“The Government of Pakistan has nominated Dr. Musadik Masood Malik, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, to represent Pakistan at the SCO Civilizational Dialogue to be held in New Delhi from 20 to 22 November 2026,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The event will bring together representatives of SCO member states to exchange views on civilizational and cultural issues, it added.

“The Government of Pakistan remains committed to promoting dialogue among civilizations and fostering people-to-people contacts within the SCO framework in a spirit of mutual respect,” the statement said.

India had invited Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, to attend the forum, according to Indian media reports in October, in the first such invitation to a senior Pakistani official since the May 2025 hostilities.

Indian Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat expressed hope earlier this week that Pakistan would participate in the gathering, which seeks to promote cultural exchanges among SCO member states.

In May 2023, Pakistan’s then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari traveled to the Indian state of Goa for an SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, becoming the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in nearly 12 years. However, the visit did not lead to a breakthrough in bilateral relations.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar subsequently visited Islamabad in October 2024 to attend an SCO heads of government meeting, becoming the first Indian foreign minister to travel to Pakistan in nine years.

The two countries have maintained strained relations for years, particularly over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer in part.

Relations deteriorated further in May 2025 when the neighbors engaged in their most serious military confrontation in years, involving cross-border strikes and aerial combat before a ceasefire ended the fighting.

Neither country has announced plans for bilateral talks during the New Delhi gathering.