Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat is due to arrive here on Monday to attend the second Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship geo-political conference, organised by the Ministry of External Affairs in partnership with the Observer Research Foundation. The three-day dialogue gets underway on Tuesday,  with an inaugural speech from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Taj Palace in New Delhi.

The programme will be attended by former heads of state and government, foreign ministers and senior ministers from a number of countries, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Senior officials, leading strategic experts and prominent foreign policy thinkers from around the world will be presenting their papers during this year’s event themed “The New Normal: Multilateralism with Multi-Polarity”.

“The dialogue, India’s annual flagship geo-political conference, has emerged as a much-awaited global conference on the international calendar within a short span,” the ministry said in a statement.

According to the schedule, the dialogue will feature an inaugural panel with the participation of Indian Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd and Gowher Rizvi, advisor on international affairs to Bangladeshi prime minister. A video message from the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres will also be played before the inaugural panel, the organisers said.