Pariksha SaathiRajnath Singh at the 25th SCO Council of Heads of Government in Dushanbe: unified action against terrorism, support for the 2026-2030 trade action plan
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on 20 October 2026, calling on member states to dismantle the entire ecosystem of terrorism, with no justification, no double standards and no place for those who finance, support or shelter terrorists. He reaffirmed India's support for adopting an Action Plan for the Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation Programme for 2026-2030, and welcomed the decisions of the SCO Summit in Bishkek (August-September 2026) to establish the Universal Centre in Tashkent and the Anti-Drug Centre in Dushanbe as permanent bodies of the Organisation. On connectivity, he cited the International North-South Transport Corridor and Chabahar Port as links between Central Asia and wider markets, and said connectivity must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. He invited member states to the first SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum, which India will host later this year. The meeting adopted the Joint Communiqué of the 25th CHG meeting, including the SCO budget for 2027 and the PMTEC Action Plan for 2026-2030; India has been a full member of the SCO since 2017.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was established on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; all except Uzbekistan had been members of the Shanghai Five, formed on 26 April 1996. Its two permanent bodies are the SCO Secretariat in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent. India was granted observer status at the July 2005 Astana Summit and, with Pakistan, joined as a full member on 9 June 2017 at the Astana summit.
Reference: Ministry of External Affairs brief on the SCO, September 2022
Check yourself: which two bodies did the SCO Summit in Bishkek decide to establish as permanent bodies, and where?
The Universal Centre in Tashkent and the Anti-Drug Centre in Dushanbe.
Revision task: from this release, note the meeting's venue and number, the action plan's period, the new permanent bodies, the connectivity projects and the documents adopted, and keep them apart from the SCO's standing facts above.
Test yourself
Where was the 25th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, addressed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 20 October 2026, held?
Show the answer
Answer: Dushanbe
Rajnath Singh addressed the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the SCO in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on October 20, 2026.
Read the daily collection → · Editorial standards & corrections