- Sunday that they did not participate in the recently held Indian Ocean Region Forum convened by China, which the organisers had claimed brought together representatives from 19 countries in the region, except for India.
- Both countries clarified there was no official representation at the China-backed forum.
- According to a statement from the organisers, the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), which is Beijingās new development aid agency, the forum in Kunming had brought together āhigh-level representativesā from 19 countries:
- Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Djibouti, and Australia.
- No representative from India was invited for the meeting.
āNo govt. presenceā
- The Maldives Foreign Ministry in a statement said it had noted the CIDCA statement and would ālike to clarify that the Government of Maldives did not participateā and āthere was no official representationā, stressing that āparticipation by individualsā did not constitute official representation.
- Australiaās High Commissioner in Delhi, Barry OāFarrell, said in a post on Twitter that āno Australian Government official attended the Kunming China-Indian Ocean Forum on Development Coopera- tionā.
- Former Maldives President Mohammed Waheed Hassan and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd were reported to have virtually joined the meeting, and both were attending in their individual capacity, not representing their governments.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB