NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will visit Pakistan to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit this month, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.

Jaishankar will represent India at the two-day SCO meeting of Council of Heads of governments to be held in Islamabad on October 15 and 16. Several leaders from the Eurasian regional forum have already confirmed their participation. Russian and Chinese prime ministers are among the leaders coming to Islamabad for the SCO meeting.

Defence expert Robinder Sachdev views India's decision to send External Affairs Minister Jaishankar to the SCO Summit in Pakistan as a deliberate downgrading of its involvement.

SCO is one of the few international organisations which deal with security issues and primarily has Asian members. What was the context for India and Pakistan becoming its members? We explain.

Jaishankar is the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan since December 2015. Sushma Swaraj was the last Indian foreign minister to visit Islamabad.

For India, the SCO offers a key platform for engaging with Central Asian nations, with whom it has historically had limited relations.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be travelling to Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit scheduled to take place in October.

India's foreign minister S Jaishankar will attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Pakistan this month, his ministry has announced. This will be the first visit by a high ranking Indian minister to Pakistan in nearly a decade.

Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is set to visit Pakistan for the first time in nine years to attend the SCO heads of government meeting in Islama