Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana, PC, states that a sheer number of countries will be participating at the Indian Ocean Conference of 2017 owing to the friendly policies followed by the Sri Lankan Government.

He stated this upon attending a press conference at the Temple Trees today (29).

The two-day Indian Ocean Conference will be held from August 31till September 01. The President and Prime Minister will be among the key speakers. 

The theme of the conference will reportedly be peace, progress and prosperity.

It will see participation from around 35 countries and have speakers from 25 countries. The conference will be held in Temple Trees, the official residence of the Premier.

This year’s conference will mark the second IOC conference. The first was held in Singapore last year in partnership with think tanks from Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The 2017 conference will be inaugurated by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe,  Seychelles Vice-President Vincent Meriton, Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena will deliver the valedictory address.

Additionally, 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.

A special plenary session will include speeches from Tilak Marapana, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal, Tofail Ahmed, Minister for Commerce of Bangladesh, and Iwao Horii, Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan.

Minister Sagala Ratnayake who attended the same press conference stated that the Conference would also address the measures to be followed to prevent the transport of narcotics across the Indian Ocean.

- With inputs from The Indian Express