{"id":132357,"date":"2026-09-02T09:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T04:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=132357"},"modified":"2026-09-02T09:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T04:28:21","slug":"shanghai-cooperation-organisation-names-lahore-as-its-tourism-and-cultural-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/","title":{"rendered":"Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BISHKEK(National Times)-  The city of Lahore has been named the Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026-27 by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decision was anno\u00adunced at the 26th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in the Kyr\u00adgyz capital, which was att\u00ade\u00adnded by PM Shehbaz Sharif.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The title of Tourism and Cultural Capital has been rotated annually among SCO member states since 2022, and the designation serves to highlight the pro\u00adminence of a city that emb\u00adodies the cultural heritage of the country that takes over the rotating presidency of the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year, Pakistan assumed the SCO presidency, with PM Shehbaz defining the theme of the chairmanship as \u2018Turning Vision into Action: Connectivity, Innovation and Shared Prosperity\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cities that have held the title in the past include Varanasi, India (2022-23), Almaty, Kazakhstan (2023-24), Qingdao, China (2024-25) and Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan (2025-26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decision to designate Lahore as the tourism and cultural capital was taken in April this year, when the heads of tourism administrations of SCO member states met in Bishkek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The designation is designed to promote people-to-people contacts and tourism among the member states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BISHKEK(National Times)- The city of Lahore has been named the Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026-27 by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The decision was anno\u00adunced at the 26th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in the Kyr\u00adgyz capital, which was att\u00ade\u00adnded by PM Shehbaz Sharif. The title of Tourism and Cultural [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019 - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019 - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BISHKEK(National Times)- The city of Lahore has been named the Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026-27 by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The decision was anno\u00adunced at the 26th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in the Kyr\u00adgyz capital, which was att\u00ade\u00adnded by PM Shehbaz Sharif. The title of Tourism and Cultural [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T04:28:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T04:28:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-13.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/\",\"name\":\"Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019 - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-13.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-02T04:28:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-02T04:28:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-13.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-13.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019 - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132357\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shanghai Cooperation Organisation names Lahore as its \u2018Tourism and Cultural capital\u2019 - Nation","og_description":"BISHKEK(National Times)- The city of Lahore has been named the Tourism and Cultural Capital for 2026-27 by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The decision was anno\u00adunced at the 26th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in the Kyr\u00adgyz capital, which was att\u00ade\u00adnded by PM Shehbaz Sharif. 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