Touhid, Jaishankar share stage at Indian Ocean Conference in Muscat

Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain on Sunday joined the Indian Ocean Conference in Muscat and shared stage with India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar along with Foreign Ministers of the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Oman, Iran and others.

Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid and his Indian counterpart Jaishankar are likely to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the 8th Indian Ocean Conference.

"There is a possibility.....we expect that the meeting will be held," Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Rafiqul Alam told reporters at the weekly briefing recently.

Earlier, the Foreign Adviser reached Muscat from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

If a bilateral meeting on the sidelines is held, this would be their second meeting since the formation of the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus in August last year.

Adviser Hossain and Minister Jaishankar had their first meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September last year.

The 8th Indian Ocean Conference is being organised by India Foundation in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman. The theme of the Indian Ocean Conference this year is "Voyages to New Horizons of Maritime Partnership."

The Indian Ocean Conference was started by India Foundation in 2016 in Singapore, with participation from 30 countries.