7-Sep-2019: 4th Indian Ocean Conference 2019 held in Male
The 4th Indian Ocean Conference 2019 was recently held in Male, Maldives. Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was one of the speakers at the Indian Ocean Conference 2019 event.
The theme for 4th Indian Ocean Conference 2019 was: ‘Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges’. This edition of the conference will provide yet another opportunity for stakeholders of the Indian Ocean Region to deliberate on building an institutional framework for managing the threats to regional peace and human security.
The two-day conference was held on 3-4 September 2019. The Chair of the conference was the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It was organised by India Foundation (based in New Delhi), in association with Government of the Maldives and S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.
27-Aug-2018: Indian Ocean Conference begins in Hanoi
The third edition of Indian Ocean Conference began at Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam on August 26. The theme of the two- day conference will focus on Building Regional Architectures, particularly with regards to trade and commerce, security and governance. It was inaugurated by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
This year's conference will see 43 countries as participants while 28 ministers and officials are set to address the event. The key speakers include Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vietnam Pham Bihn Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health & Population, Nepal Upendra Yadav and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan along with other notables. Representatives from Indian and foreign Think Tanks will also grace the conference.
This year, the Indian Ocean Conference will emphasize on better cooperation, strategic collaboration and governance architectures. This conference will serve a platform to the countries to come closer and exchange better views on the economic and strategic importance of the region and neighborhood.
Earlier, the conference was held in Singapore and Sri Lanka in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Organised by Indian Foundation along with the partners from Singapore, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka this is an initiative to bring the state leaders, diplomats and bureaucrats from across the region under one roof to strengthen the understanding among each other.
1-Sep-2019: South Asian Speakers Summit begins in Maldives
The fourth South Asian Speakers’ Summit kicked off in the Maldives capital with the secretary general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and senior lawmakers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The 4th South Asian Speakers’ Summit on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was jointly organized by the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the People’s Majlis, Maldives. This is the fourth event in a series of Speakers’ Summits for the region on SDGs, the previous three having been hosted by Bangladesh in 2016, India in 2017 and the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 2018.
This high-level Summit has built on the conclusions of the previous summits and has allowed Speakers of Parliament to continue to develop dialogue and parliamentary cooperation on achieving the SDGs. Given their legislative, oversight, representative and budgetary functions, parliaments play a key role in ensuring a sustainable future for current and future generations. The participants grasp opportunity to build on the declarations adopted during the previous summits and pursue discussions on key challenges and opportunities with respect to SDG implementation.
The Summit is actually intended for Speakers of the Parliaments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. However, the Speakers from Nepal and Myanmar were not present for two days Summit held in Maldives. The Summit was also attended by Secretary General of IPU Mr. Martin Chungong. H.E Mr. Wangchuk Namgyel, Speaker of the National Assembly represented the Parliament of Bhutan along with Secretary General of the National Assembly and a Delegation Secretary.
The two-day meeting focuses on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The rest of the agenda includes panel discussions on equal pay, youth employment, nutrition, food security and the regional agenda on delivering the Paris Agreement on climate change. The summit is due to end with the adoption of the Malé Declaration – a brief document with a summary of conclusions and recommendations – and a field visit to the island of Rasdhoo in Alif Alif atoll.
5-Jun-2019: Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot to Participate in ‘2nd Global Disability Summit’ at buenos aires from 6-8 June, 2019
A delegation headed by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot and comprising Secretary, DEPwD, Smt Shankutala Gamlin, Joint Secretary, DEPwD, Dr. Prabodh Seth and Shri Neeraj Semwal, Private Secretary to Union Minister is leaving for Argentina today to participate in the “2nd Global Disability Summit to be held at Buenos Aires, Argentina during 6-8 June 2019.
The objective of the summit is to deliberate on issues across the world concerning empowerment and inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and to work out a mechanism for enabling them to live an independent and dignified life. The Union Minister had also attended the ‘1st Global Disability Summit’ held in London in July 2018.
The delegation will also participate in the bilateral discussions with Government of Argentina for developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries on 9-10 June 2019.