PM Modi To Inaugurate 3-Day Raisina Dialogue Today

The eighth edition of the annual Raisina Dialogue, the flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy, begins in New Delhi today. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will be the chief guest and keynote speaker at its inaugural session, according to the Foreign Ministry which is organising the event in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation from March 2-4.

The conference, organised under the theme "Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest?", will witness the participation of representatives from over 100 countries.

The conference will begin with an inaugural session from 6:30-7:30 pm, followed by an inaugural dinner from 7:45-9:45 pm which 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.

From 10:20-11:10 pm on Thursday, there will be a session on 'Conversations Over Kahwa' which will be presided 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.

Day 2 will begin with ministerial remarks by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan from 9 - 9:10 am.

This will be followed by a panel discussion from 9:10-9:50 am, further details of which are yet to be announced.

There will be another panel discussion from 9:50-10:40 am which will be presided by 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, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada-Melanie Joly.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry Selim will preside over a panel discussion from 11:10-11:50 pm.

At 12 pm on Friday, there will be conversation between Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov and Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, Sunjoy Joshi.

From 4:25-5:15 pm on Friday, there will be a panel discussion on the topic 'Bytes of Promise: How Can Technology Lift Communities?', to be presided by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister MUM Ali Sabry.

Day 3 will begin with 'Conversations over Breakfast'.

At 9:15 am, there will be ministerial remarks by Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs, Meenakashi Lekhi.

From 5:10-6 pm, there will be a panel discussion presided over by Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlic Radman.

A showstopper panel discussion from 7:10-8 pm will be presided by Foreign Secretary Mr Kwatra, followed by closing dinner discussions.

Over 2,500 participants will attend the dialogue in person and the proceedings would reach millions across various digital platforms.

During the past eight years, the Raisina Dialogue has consistently grown in stature and profile to establish itself as one of the leading global conferences on international affairs.

The last edition of Raisina Dialogue took place in Sydney where Foreign Minister S Jaishankar called on Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Sydney. Mr Jaishankar gifted her a cricket bat signed by Indian captain Rohit Sharma while his Australian counterpart gifted him an Australian cricket jersey with 'Jaishankar' written on it.