The Indonesian Foreign Minister is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday evening.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi arrived in India on Friday for a two-day visit where he will address the combined session of the Indian Ocean Dialogue and the Delhi Dialogue XI which will be based on the partnership between countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Indonesian Foreign Minister is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today (Friday) evening, and they are later slated to hold a sixth Joint Commission Meeting between India and Indonesia at the Hyderabad House.
Later in the day, Marsudi will deliver the keynote address at the two combined dialogues at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra. The two-track 1.5 dialogues will be held for two consecutive days starting from December 13.
Both dialogues, Indian Ocean Dialogue and the Delhi Dialogue XI, will be held on Indo-Pacific themes. The theme for Indian Ocean Dialogue is "Indo-Pacific: Re-imagining the Indian Ocean through an Expanded Geography” and that of Delhi Dialogue XI is "Advancing Partnership in Indo-Pacific.”
The Delhi dialogue is being organised with the assistance of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries.
Other foreign dignitaries who will be attending the Indian Ocean Dialogue are special Envoys, Deputy Ministers and senior officials from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand, as well as the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN at the Delhi Dialogue as well as the Foreign Secretaries of Seychelles and Maldives, the IORA Secretary-General and senior officials from South Africa and UAE.
The Indonesian Foreign minister was scheduled to address the joint ministerial session with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, however, the latter cancelled his visit citing "increasing demand at home."
Momen was supposed to arrive in New Delhi today as part of a three-day visit to India, which includes attending the sixth Indian Ocean Dialogue and Delhi Dialogue XI. He was also supposed to hold talks with Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar.
Momen said that he had to participate in the 'Buddijibi Debosh' and 'Bijoy Debosh' events back in Bangladesh. However, he added that he was looking forward to his January visit.
"I had to cancel my trip to New Delhi as I have to participate in the Buddijibi Debosh and Bijoy Debosh and more so as our State Minister is out of the country in Madrid and our Foreign Secretary is in The Hague. Given increasing demand at home, I decided to cancel his trip," said Momen.
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister cancelling his trip to India is invariably being interpreted in the wake of the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in both houses of the Parliament.
Earlier, Momen had refuted Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement on the condition of religious minorities in Bangladesh, calling it 'unwarranted as well as untrue'. Shah had justified the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Parliament by claiming that it will ensure protection to persecuted communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
Momen had refuted the claims of persecution and in turn, claimed that there were 'very few countries where communal harmony is as good as in Bangladesh.'
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, has been passed in both houses of the parliament and became an act on Thursday night after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent.
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 "Retno L. P. Marsudi (Foreign minister of Indonesia)")
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