Sushma Swaraj to attend Indian Ocean meet in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister and President are among key speakers in the event on the theme of peace, progress and prosperity .
New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj will participate in the two-day Indian Ocean Conference (ICO) to be held in Colombo from Thursday. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister and President are among key speakers in the event on the theme of “peace, progress and prosperity”.
The IOC 2017, to be held at Temple Trees, the official residence of the Sri Lankan PM, is being co-hosted by the India Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank, in collaboration with RSIS, Singapore, and NIFS, Colombo — both research and study centers.
The conference will have speakers from 25 countries. Representatives from around 35 countries are expected to participate in the event. This will be second ICO conference. The first was held in Singapore in 2016 in partnership with think tanks from Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The conference will be inaugurated by Seychelles vice-president Vincent Meriton, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Singapore foreign affairs minister Vivian Balakrishnan besides Ms Swaraj, while Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will deliver the valedictory address, a statement said.
The conference will also be attended by officials from the USA, Australia and Germany among others.