Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the three-day Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy, on Thursday. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will join the inaugural session as the Chief Guest.
The eighth edition of the Dialogue is being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in collaboration with Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
This year's theme is 'Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest?' and will witness the participation of representatives from over 100 countries, including ministers, former heads of State and heads of government, military commanders, captains of the industry, technology leaders, academia, journalists, scholars on strategic affairs and experts from leading think tanks.
This year's edition of the Dialogue assumes special significance as it comes against the backdrop of India's G20 Presidency.
The inaugural session of the conference will begin on Thursday around 6:30-7:30 pm. The inaugural dinner will include welcome remarks by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. There will be keynote addresses by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Sachiko Imoto, the senior vice president of Japan International Cooperation Agency, and Ricardo Baptista Leite, Portugal MP.
There will also be a session on 'Conversations Over Kahwa' which will be presided over by Sanjeev Sanyal, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to PM Modi, Balazs Orban, Political Director in the Cabinet Office of the Hungary Prime Minister, and Mariam Wardak, founder of Her Afghanistan, among others.
The second day of the conference will see ministerial remarks by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan followed by a panel discussion.
Another panel discussion featuring the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell Fontelles, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada-Melanie Joly will also be held. Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry Selim will preside over a third panel discussion.
There will also be a conversation between Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Sunjoy Joshi, chairman, Observer Research Foundation, on Friday. Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister MUM Ali Sabry will preside over a panel discussion on the topic 'Bytes of Promise: How Can Technology Lift Communities?' on Friday.
On the third concluding day, there will be ministerial remarks by the Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi.
Another panel discussion presided over by Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlic Radman, will be held.
A showstopper panel discussion from 7:10-8 pm will be presided by Foreign Secretary Mr Kwatra, followed by closing dinner discussions.
