New Delhi, May 31 (IANS): Defence Minister A.K. Antony will travel Singapore the address the annual Shangri La dialogue on maritime security and navigation freedom issues.

Antony will leave for Singapore Friday to attend the 11th edition of the summit on Saturday. He will return home on Sunday.

The Shangri La dialogue has been taking place annually since 2002. It is organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

On the sidelines of the Shangri La dialogue, Antony will hold bilateral discussions with a number of leaders from several countries including Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, France, Canada and Tonga.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, who is to visit India in the first week of June, will also attend the Shangri La dialogue.

Antony will be accompanied by a delegation including Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma and Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) headquarters.

Antony, during his talk in Singapore, is like to focus on issues such as freedom of navigation in the South China Sea that has come under threat over maritime territorial disputes between the countries of the region, including China and Vietnam.

He is also likely to touch upon Somalia-based sea piracy as a serious security threat to maritime trade, an issue that has caught the attention of the global naval powers in the past decade.