External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday reiterated India’s commitment to the well-being of Indian Ocean countries.

He was speaking in Dhaka at a regional conference co-organised by a think tank, India Foundation, considered close to the RSS and co-sponsored by the MEA, its Bangladeshi counterpart and Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Former Navy officer Cmdr Alok Bansal is the Director of India Foundation and there is also the involvement of senior RSS leader Ram Madhav who had taken a break from his high visibility involvement in the North-East and international affairs.

Shaurya Doval, son of NSA Ajit Doval, tweeted that he chaired a session on “Roadmap for an Economically Sustainable Future in the Indo-Pacific” at the sixth Indian Ocean Conference. Shaurya is on India Foundation’s governing council which also includes Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Swapan Dasgupta, according to its website. Shaurya’s Twitter bio states that he is also state executive committee member of the BJP in Uttarakhand.

The sixth conference is also being attended by President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun, Vice-President of Maldives Faisal Naseem, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina and several Foreign Ministers.

“This is a gathering of like-minded people to have an open and fruitful discussion on various dimensions of our cooperation. I wish the deliberation all success,” Jaishankar said while praising Bangladesh for releasing its Indo-Pacific outlook.

(Source ANI)