SushmaSwaraj to travel to Lanka tomorrow for Indian Ocean Conference

Sushma Swaraj (Photo: Facebook)


External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Colombo on Thursday to attend two-day Indian Ocean Conference, the Ministry said here on Wednesday.

During the visit, Swaraj will be calling on the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a statement from the External Affairs Ministry said.

“She will also have a separate meeting with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister,” it said.

The two-day conference is being jointly organised by the India Foundation, the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore, and the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Colombo, the Ministry said.

Swaraj will address the inaugural session of the conference.

“The theme of this year s conference is ‘Peace, Progress and Prosperity’ and will involve participants from more than 35 countries. The first edition of the Indian Ocean Conference was held in Singapore in September 2016,” it said.

There will be ministerial representation from Bangladesh, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Vietnam and the conference will also be attended by senior officials from the USA, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Germany, Kenya, South Korea and Afghanistan among others, India Foundation had said in a statement.