Indian Ocean confce kicks off today

The two-day sixth Indian Ocean conference starts in Dhaka city today (Friday) with the theme 'Peace, prosperity and partnership for a resilient future'.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be the chief guest at the event to be inaugurated by Mauritius President Prithivirajsing Roopun.
Indian external affairs minister SJ Shankar will deliver a keynote speech in the conference.
There will be two special addresses-one by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and the other by Maldives Vice-president Faisal Naseem.
India Foundation, a think-tank affiliated with the Indian external affairs ministry, is hosting the conference in partnership with the foreign ministry of Bangladesh and S Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Singapore.
The conference will be attended by more than 150 delegates from 27 countries situated on the coast of the Indian Ocean, according to organisers.
Foreign ministers of Oman, Nepal and Bhutan, and state and deputy ministers from several countries will also attend the event.
Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday spoke of his possibility to discuss bilateral issues with his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the conference.
This year's conference is very crucial in the wake of the post-pandemic situation and the Russia-Ukraine war on the countries of this region, he said.
There will be five plenaries on the second day of the conference.
India Foundation chairman Suresh Prabhu, state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam, eminent journalist MJ Akbar, Indian external affairs secretary Saurabh Kumar and foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen will chair the sessions.
On the morning of May 13, a high-level delegation will visit the 32 Dhanmondi residence to pay homage to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

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