Manmohan Singh chairs conference of heads of Indian missions

New Delhi, Aug 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh chaired the session of a conference of Indian ambassadors and high commissioners to 112 nations here on Tuesday.

The five-day conference that began on Monday will provide the government an opportunity to give directions to the envoys on major foreign policy objectives.

Besides Dr. Singh, the conference of Heads of Indian Missions abroad will also be addressed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vyalar Ravi, National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan, and other senior government ministers and officers.

The HOMs will also have an interaction with Vice President Hamid Ansari.

Various high level sessions during the conference will cover inter-alia the global financial crisis, the Indian economy and the climate change.

A new feature of this year's conference will be the interactive sessions with some special topical themes. This will enable the Heads of Missions to provide the government with their own experiences during the last one year of implementing foreign policy in different countries and regions.

This annual interaction between the Government of India and its envoys will help to ensure that the latter are well equipped to shoulder the complex responsibilities that are required to be fulfilled in a rapidly changing global environment.

This is the second such meeting, the first being in December last year in the backdrop of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks when India was on a 'diplomatic offensive' against Pakistan. (ANI)