Netanyahu to inaugurate Raisina Dialogue

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will on Tuesday inaugurate this year's Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, here.

Organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation think tank, the theme of the Dialogue this year is 'Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions & Idioms'.

According to a statement issued by ORF on Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and ORF Chairman Sunjoy Joshi will also be part of the inaugural session.

Sushma Swaraj will deliver the Plenary Address on January 17 while Ministers of State for Foreign Affairs, M.J. Akbar and V.K. Singh, will also address the delegates during the three-day event.

The other ministers taking part in the Dialogue include Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.

The chiefs of Army and Navy, General Bipin Rawat and Admiral Sunil Lanba, will also address the Dialogue, along with Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the US Pacific Command, General Chris Deverell, Joint Forces Commander of Britain, Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, Chief of Staf of the Joint Staff of Japan, and Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, Chief of Australian Navy.

Ministerial delegations from countries like Australia, Russia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Poland are also attending this year's conference.

Former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, former Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harder and former Prime Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, are among more than 150 speakers and over 550 delegates from around 90 countries who are participating in the Dialogue.

In the statement, ORF Chairman Joshi said the Raisina Dialogue was born two years ago, in 2016, in the belief that the Asian century that the world was talking about was not about any exclusive geographical region. It was rather about the engagement of global actors with Asia and of Asia with the world.

Stressing the diplomatic importance of the conference, Mr Joshi said: "When the world is drifting to globalisation, protectionism, restrictive borders and predatory economics, Raisina 2018 once again seeks to find strength in our common future".

The curator of the Raisina Dialogue and the Vice President of ORF Samir Saran said the Raisina Dialogue is India's attempt to reclaim its role as the hub of knowledge and ideas, as during the times of Nalanda, in the 21st century.

--IANS

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