EAM to host key dialogues to build upon growing recognition of Indo-Pacific concept

The External Affairs ministry will host two key dialogues this week to build upon the growing recognition of the Indo-Pacific concept in strategic and academic circles, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The '6th Indian Ocean Dialogue' will take place on Friday while the 'Delhi Dialogue XI' will start on the evening of Friday, and run through to the evening of Saturday, the ministry said.

The ministry said that through these processes, India intends to emphasise "its open and inclusive approach to fostering a cooperative, free, and rules-based Indo-Pacific domain, in which all nations and their aspirations for development have equal space to find expression".

The two events will intersect on Friday evening in a joint ministerial session, at which the Guests of Honour include Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia, and A K Abdul Momin, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, the statement said.

The two ministers will deliver keynote addresses at this session, in the presence of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The theme for this year's Delhi Dialogue is 'Advancing Partnership in Indo-Pacific', while the theme of the sixth Indian Ocean Dialogue is 'Indo-Pacific: Re-imagining the Indian Ocean through an Expanded Geography', the ministry said.

"The themes of each of these events are intended to build upon the growing recognition of the Indo-Pacific concept in strategic and academic circles within this region and beyond," the statement said.

India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military maneuvering in the region.

Other dignitaries who will participate include special envoys, deputy ministers and senior officials from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand, as well as the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN at the Delhi Dialogue as well as the Foreign Secretaries of Seychelles and Maldives, the IORA Secretary General and senior officials from South Africa and UAE, at the Indian Ocean Dialogue, it said.

A number of highly-regarded scholars will participate in these two dialogues, along with officials from ASEAN and IORA nations, it said.

Academics and scholars are expected from policy institutes, universities and international institutions in Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Russia, South Africa, Bangladesh, UAE, Oman, Iran, Mauritius, USA, Kenya and India, it said.