Australia and the Maldives said on Sunday that they did not attend the recently concluded Indian Ocean Region Forum, which was organised by China and claimed to have had participants from 19 regional nations, with the exception of India.

As per TOI, both nations made it clear that there was no official participation at the forum supported by China. The forum in Kunming brought together "high-level representatives" from 19 countries, including Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Djibouti, and Australia, according to a statement from the organizers, the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), Beijing's new development aid organization. No one from India was invited to attend.

The Maldives Foreign Ministry in a statement said it had noted the CIDCA statement and would “like to clarify that the Government of Maldives did not participate” and “there was no official representation”, stressing that “participation by individuals” did not constitute official representation.

Australia’s High Commissioner in Delhi, Barry O’Farrell said in a post on Twitter that “no Australian Government official attended the Kunming China-Indian Ocean Forum on Development Cooperation.”