Why in news? Italian Prime Minister Meloni to be chief guest at 8th Raisina Dialogue

Highlights:

• This is the first prime ministerial visit from Italy in five years.
• A bilateral defence cooperation agreement is likely to be announced with Italy that will also have a framework for government-to-government deals

About Raisina Dialogue

• The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference held annually in New Delhi, India.
• Since its inception in 2016, the conference has emerged as India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.
• The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, an independent think tank, in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs of India.
• It is designed on the lines of Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue.
• The conference is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving a variety of global policymakers including heads of states, cabinet ministers and local government officials.
• The name “Raisina Dialogue” comes from Raisina Hill, an elevation in New Delhi, seat of the Government of India, as well as the Presidential Palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan