New Delhi, Jan 14 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Tuesday said the Raisina Dialogue has come a long way since it was launched five years back.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Raisina Dialogue 2020, Dr Jaishankar said the unique conference on strategic matters and international dynamics has three components and it covers 'wide spectrum of issues'.
India's foreign policy seeks to achieve essentially a 'focus' on key challenges, a broad engagement with many parties and "managing if not leveraging" various conflicts in global context, the Minister said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the inaugural session of the three-day meet.
Speaking on the occasion, former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai advocated that India should play a more pro-active role in international geo-politics.
Former Bhutanese Prime Minister expressed concern over climate change threat and pointed out that his country is the only nation to have carbon neutral index.
"But to have only one country out of 195 to be carbon neutral is unacceptable," the former Bhutan PM said.
Dr Jaishankar also said - "Most importantly Raisina Dialogue is contemporary and its participants are equally diverse...".
"This platform brings together representatives and individuals who you may not commonly find at the same location at the same time," he said.
The former Heads of Government who took part in discussions at the inaugural session are Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan, Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada, Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, Anders Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark, Tshering Tobgay, former Prime Minister of Bhutan and former South Korean PM Han Seung-soo.
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