The government has not accepted the invitation to participate at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the External Affairs Ministry stated.

The ceremony on Friday is in honour of the Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion and is not allowed to leave China to accept the prize.

China, Russia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco and the Philippines will not be attending this week’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed.

The 58 countries having Embassies in Oslo, Norway were invited to attend.