Fifth edition of Raisina Dialogue begins Tuesday

More than 100 countries will take part in the fifth edition of the Raisina Dialogue, an event backed by the external affairs ministry that will begin on Tuesday and will focus on geopolitics and geo-economics.

There will be more than 700 international participants, including 80 from African countries, at the Raisina Dialogue, and 40% of the speakers at the various sessions of the event will be women.

Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov are among the foreign leaders expected to attend the event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at the inaugural session.

Seven former heads of government and state, including, former New Zealand premier Helen Clark, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai and former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, will be present at the inaugural session to speak on topics ranging from globalisation and the role of technology to climate change and counter terrorism.

The external affairs ministry said in a statement that the dialogue is India’s “contribution to global efforts to discover solutions, identify opportunities and provide stability to a century that has witnessed an eventful two decades”.

The secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the secretary general of the Commonwealth will also attend. The NSA of Afghanistan, the deputy NSA of the US will also present their ideas.

The inaugural address was to be delivered by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison but he called off his visit in view of the bushfire crisis in his country.