Raisina Dialogue sees a host of foreign dignitaries descend on Delhi

NEW DELHI: One Prime Minister and at least six foreign ministers are in New Delhi this week, mostly in connection with the annual Raisina Dialogue (January 8-10) organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs.

While Norway PM Erna Solberg is here on a state visit, the others visiting dignitaries include the foreign ministers of Australia, Iran, the EU, Mongolia, Nepal and Japan. The Japanese foreign minister is the only one not speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, although Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, Chief of Joint Staff, Japan Self-Defense Forces, is expected to speak at a session on the Indo-Pacific on Wednesday.

Solberg, who arrived Monday morning, addressed an Indo-Norwegian Business Conference before visiting a primary school in Ghaziabad, run with UNICEF assistance. In the evening, she, along with MoS, External Affairs, Gen (retd) V K Singh, inaugurated the new chancery of the Norwegian embassy, which is one of the few buildings in India to make use of geo-thermal wells.

Solberg will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will call on her before she meets PM Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House, where the two sides with exchange agreements after delegation level talks. She will meet President Ram Nath Kovind, before delivering the opening address at Raisina Dialogue.