Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed the 4th Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) will begin in Maldives on September 3.
The two-day conference is jointly hosted by India Foundation and Foreign Services Institute of Maldives (FOSIM). The theme for the conference this year is Securing the Indian Ocean: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Primer Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed, Designated Minister of Seychelles Macsuzy Mondon will participate in the conference. Senior officials from Maldives, India, Singapore, Bhutan, Mauritius and Nepal will also take part in the conference.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will chair the 4th IOC, which is organised the School of International Studies, Singapore. Wickremesinghe will arrive in Maldives on an official visit on September 2.
Other participants of the conference include delegates from UAE, East Timor, Oman, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Tanzania, Myanmar, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Russia, China, Vietnam, Madagascar and the US.
The purpose of the conference is to develop an effective regional framework for managing threats to regional peace, human security through multilateral cooperation and dialogue.