On February 2, 2023, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) held an annual conference titled « India-Russia Strategic Partnership: New Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing World Order». The event takes place annually on the rotation basis in two capitals.
During the conference leading experts from Russia and India discussed the two countries' approaches to the most relevant issues of global and regional interaction in the context of the changing world order, assessing the level of bilateral economic and security cooperation. The experts paid special attention to the prospects of enhancing bilateral ties in the field of science and higher education.
On February 2, 2023, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) held an annual conference titled « India-Russia Strategic Partnership: New Challenges and Opportunities in a Changing World Order». The event takes place annually on the rotation basis in two capitals.
During the conference leading experts from Russia and India discussed the two countries' approaches to the most relevant issues of global and regional interaction in the context of the changing world order, assessing the level of bilateral economic and security cooperation. The experts paid special attention to the prospects of enhancing bilateral ties in the field of science and higher education.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Vijay Thakur Singh, ICWA Director General, welcomed the participants to the event. Andrey Kortunov emphasized the special importance of cooperation between Russia and India: “We hope that Russian-Indian relations will be a major determinant of the global order of the future...The future of the world order will largely depend on the decisions that India will make”. Denis Alipov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to India, and Pavan Kapoor, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Russia, also addressed the participants with welcoming remarks.
The conference was held in three sessions in a closed mode.
In the first session — «Security Agenda in India and Russia» – experts discussed the influence of the existing global challenges on the security of Russia and India. Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Dmitry Trenin, Leading Research Fellow, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), RAS, RIAC Member, presented Russian approach to the issue. P.S. Raghavan, Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) under the Government of India, and Sarabjit Parmar, Senior Fellow, National Maritime Foundation of India, represented India in the session.
The second session «Economic Cooperation: Traditional and Innovative» covered the prospects of Russia-India cooperation under sanctions in trade and investment, energy sector, new technology, innovations and digital economy, transport and logistics, as well as in space. The session included presentations by D. Suba Chandran, Dean and Prof. NIAS, Bengaluru, Ivan Timofeev, RIAC Director of Programs, Amit Bhandari, Senior Fellow, Energy, Investment and Connectivity, Gateway House, Mumbai, Lydia Kulik, Head of India Studies, SKOLKOVO Institute of Emerging Markets, Chaitanya Giri, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), Gateway House, and Alexey Kupriyanov, Head, South Asia and Indian Ocean Group, IMEMO RAS.
The third session — «Cooperation in the Sphere of Higher Education and Science – a Basis for Future Generations» — examined the opportunities of developing joint educational programs, research projects and student exchanges to further strengthen ties between Russia and India. The session included presentations by Elena Remizova, Director of Russian Cultural House in Mumbai, Victoria Panova, Vice Rector, Member of the Academic Council, Higher School of Economics, RIAC Member, L. Venkateswaran, Dean, Directorate of Research and Publications Rashtriya Raksha University, Gujarat, Vera Zabotkina, Vice Rector, Russian State University for the Humanities, Anatoly Nikolaev, Rector of the North-Easter Federal University (NEFU), RIAC member, Gulshan Sachdeva, Professor, School of International Studies, JNU, and Nandan Unnikrishnan, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation. The session was followed up by a panel discussion with leading experts in higher education from St. Petersburg State University and NEFU.
Ivan Timofeev, RIAC Director of Programs, Ajay Bisaria, Joint Secretary (Eurasia), Ministry of External Affairs, GOI, and Anuradha Chenoy, Faculty, Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University, former Dean, SIS, JNU, moderated the sessions.
