EAM Visit To Germany, France; Conferences With Focus On Indo-Pacific
New Delhi, Feb 17: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be travelling to Germany and France from February 18-23, to attend the Munich Security Conference and the EU Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, besides holding bilateral meetings with his counterparts from those countries.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, making the announcement at the weekly briefing today, said that in Munich the EAM will hold bilateral meetings with the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and other delegates who would be attending the conference.
At the Munich Security Conference the EAM will participate in a panel discussion on the Indo-Pacific.
“He will also lead discussions at an Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) event that is being hosted by our Consulate General in Munich and the Observer Research Foundation on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference,” said the spokesperson.
He will proceed to Paris from there and hold a bilateral with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. The EAM will attend the EU Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo Pacific on February 22.
“This is an initiative of the French presidency of the European Council. The EAM will also hold bilateral with his EU counterparts and other Indo-Pacific countries on the sidelines of this forum,” the spokesperson said.
He will also make an address at the French Institute of International Relations, IFRI. Besides the 27 members of the EU, the foreign ministers from 30 Indo-Pacific countries have been invited to the EU Ministerial on Indo-Pacific in Paris, including Japan, and South Korea and India. This will be the main initiative of the French presidency related to the region. The forum is planned to “address specific challenges related to security and defence, and digital and connectivity issues in the context of the Global Gateway initiative to develop infrastructure worldwide, as well as global challenges such as global health, climate change, biodiversity and the protection of the oceans.” Three roundtables will be organized to discuss these issues.
The Munich Security Conference, from February 18-20, is the world’s leading forum for debating international security policy. It is a venue for diplomatic initiatives to address the world’s most pressing security concerns. According to the Munich Security Council’s official website, 30 heads of state and government, 100 ministerial officials and heads of important international organizations are expected to attend the event, among them UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US Vice President Kamala Harris, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
