Rajnath Singh to Lead India at 25th SCO CHG Meeting

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, to speak for India at the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Ministry of Defence made the announcement on 18 October 2026, and the meeting itself is set for 19 and 20 October 2026.

What the meeting will cover

Talks at this edition are expected to centre on widening multilateral cooperation among the SCO member states. The fields named for special attention are trade, the economy, investment, connectivity, innovation, and cultural as well as humanitarian exchange. The delegations will also take stock of how joint programmes already under way are progressing, and will consider decisions touching the financial and institutional working of the grouping itself.

India at the table

India stays closely involved in the various working mechanisms of the organisation, and has pressed cooperation in the fields where it has something of its own to offer: start-ups and innovation, digital public infrastructure, and exchanges between ordinary citizens of the member countries. The Dushanbe round, the ministry says, gives India room to put its views to the other members on making cooperation inside the grouping practical and useful to every side.

The meeting before this one

The last CHG meeting was hosted by Moscow, the capital of Russia, on 18 November 2025. India was spoken for there by External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, so sending the Defence Minister this time marks a change in who heads the Indian delegation.

The facts at a glance

Why aspirants should note it

Questions on the SCO almost always turn on the edition number, the host city, the focus of the meeting and the name of the Indian representative. For this round the set worth memorising is short: the 25th CHG meeting, Dushanbe in Tajikistan, 19 and 20 October 2026, India led by the Defence Minister, with Moscow the host of the round before it.