The seventh edition of the Raisina Dialogue is being held in Delhi, this year after a long gap of two years because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The three-day international conference, Raisina Dialogue is India’s premier conference on global affairs commenced on April 25 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the seventh edition in the presence of foreign dignitaries, including chief guest Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union Commission President. The conference is a joint venture of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an independent think tank organisation.
The Raisina Dialogue is a conference held annually on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Its key areas are to address issues facing the global community. The name of the dialogue has been derived from Raisina Hill, the seat of the Indian government.
Ever since the idea got conceptualised, the Raisina Dialogue has emerged as one of the leading global conferences on international affairs. The dialogue also features the participation of heads of state, ministers, academics, researchers and journalists.
In the first Raisina Dialogue which was held in 2016, over 100 speakers from over 35 countries attended to speak on the theme, “Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity”. In 2017, over 120 speakers from 65 countries discussed “The New Normal: Multilateralism with Multipolarity”.
The Speakers of this year’s conference include Jane Holl Lute (Former Deputy Secretary, United States), Carl Bildt (Former Prime Minister of Sweden), Ayoade Alakija (Co-Chair, African Union’s African Vaccine Delivery Alliance; Special Envoy and Co-Chair for ACT-Accelerator, World Health Organisation), Lynn Kuok (Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Security, IISS, Singapore), Amish Tripathi (Director, Nehru Centre; Author) and Abdulla Shahid (President, United Nations General Assembly), Mohamed Nasheed (Former Maldives President) and Anthony Abbott (Former Australia PM) among many significant others.
The theme of Raisina Dialogue 2022 is “Terranova- Impassioned, Impatient, Imperilled” and it will be modelled along six thematic pillars:
1. Rethinking Democracy: trade, technology and ideology
2. End of Multilateralism: a networked global order
3. Water Caucuses: turbulent tides in the Indo-Pacific
4. Communities Inc: first responders to health, development, and planet
5. Achieving Green Transitions: common imperative, diverging realities
6. Samson vs Goliath: the persistent and relentless technology wars
Arindam Bagchi, MEA Spokesperson, tweeted on 24th April 2022, “India’s flagship conference on geopolitics & geoeconomics, it is jointly organised by @orfonline & @MEAIndia every year since 2016. #Raisina2022, from Apr 25-27, will have over 100 sessions with over 210 speakers from more than 90 countries & multilateral organisations.”
ORF Chairman Sunjoy Joshi has noted that “India is the second-largest country in the world in terms of population, and the significance of demographics can never be underestimated…No matter where there is conflict, India worries about evacuating its people. Therefore, India has to be the one country invested in global peace that will seek to avoid conflict.” He also added that the Raisina Dialogue 2022 will help in finding ways to move toward a global order that is inclusive and rules-based.