Lahore has been named as the Tourism and Cultural Capital of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for 2026-27.
The decision was announced during the 26th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, which Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif attended.
The Tourism and Cultural Capital title rotates among SCO member states each year and highlights a city that represents the cultural heritage of the country holding the organisation’s rotating presidency.
Pakistan assumed the SCO presidency this year, with PM Shehbaz setting the theme as ‘Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity’.
The decision to name Lahore as the capital was taken in April when heads of tourism administrations from SCO member states met in Bishkek.
The designation aims to promote tourism and people-to-people contacts among SCO member states.
Lahore is the latest city to receive the title after Varanasi in India held it in 2022-23, followed by Almaty in Kazakhstan in 2023-24, Qingdao in China in 2024-25 and Cholpon-Ata in Kyrgyzstan in 2025-26.
