Shangri-La Dialogue, one of the most important gatherings of defence professionals in the Asia Pacific region, will be attended by Indian PM Narendra Modi on Friday. In the 17th Shangri-La dialogue at Singapore on June 1, he will deliver a keynote address which will make him the first Indian PM to get that opportunity.
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Considering increased Chinese footprint in the Asia-Pacific region, this dialogue attains a crucial status for advancing India’s regional importance in the Indian Ocean Region(IOR). The dialogue has been happening since 2002 and the speakers include the Prime Ministers and Ministers from countries such as China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and other regional powers as well as the US.
The key issues for discussion this time are North Korea, the Chinese influence in the South China Sea, China’s One Belt One Road(OBOR) initiative and the US interests in the region.The importance US attaches to the area had been underlined 2 days prior to the discussion with the renaming of the US Pacific Command to Indo-Pacific command.
The international community including India has been advocating for the free navigation through the international waters against the Chinese policy of expansion in the South China Sea.Operations are undertaken by the Indian naval ships across the Indian Ocean from
Malacca Straits in the East to Hormuz in the west. This signifies the maritime importance of the dialogue.
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