The Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari will leave for Perth late night today. He will represent India at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, beginning at Perth in Australia from Friday.

CHOGM takes place against the backdrop of challenges like the global financial crisis and the focus of the deliberations would be on building resilience in member nations, particularly small states, to tackle the situation.

Issues like development, climate change and dealing with terrorism jointly may also come up for discussions.

Briefing newsmen in New Delhi on the Vice President’s visit, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said in New Delhi that India is of the opinion that focus should be on strengthening the existing institutions rather than creating new ones.