Foreign Ministers of 13 countries to participate in Raisina Dialogue

Foreign ministers from 13 countries including Russia, Iran and Australia will participate in the Raisina Dialogue 2020, the fifth edition of the annual geo-political and geo-economic summit.

The three-day event, which will commence on January 14, will see over 180 delegates from 105 countries are taking part. In all, the conference themed '21@20: Navigating the Alpha Century' will witness 116 speakers, said the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in a statement on Sunday.

Many Deputy Foreign Ministers, former Prime Ministers, former Presidents, National Security Advisors, military chiefs and other high-level policy-makers, scholars and officials will also take part in the annual dialogue.

The event is being co-hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, and the Observer Research Foundation.

Besides, India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, the other Foreign Ministers participating in this year's conference are from Russia, Iran, Australia, Maldives, South Africa, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Denmark, Hungary, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

Former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and Prime Ministers of Sweden, Republic of Korea, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, and Bhutan are also participating in the conference.

Union Ministers Smiriti Irani, Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs V Muraleedharan and Members of Parliament Jayant Sinha, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, and Swapan Dasgupta will also speak in different sessions.

More than 2000 participants including over 600 delegates and speakers are taking part in the conference.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karanbir Singh, besides US Deputy NSA Matthew Pottinger, Afghanistan NSA Hamdullah Mohib, Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, Adm Phil Davidson, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defence Forces, Gen Koji Yamazaki, Vice Chief of Australian Defence Force, Vice Adm David Johnston and Chief of Naval Staff of UK, Adm Tony Radakin will also speak at the conference.

The valedictory address will be delivered by the Vice President of the European Commission and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Union, Josep Borrell.