On February 2, 2023, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Indian Council on World Affairs (ICWA) held a major annual conference “Russia — India: Contours of Cooperation in a Changing World Order” aimed at a comprehensive assessment of the state of relations between Moscow and New Delhi in global, regional and bilateral contexts.
RIAC President Igor Ivanov and ICWA Director General Vijay Thakur Singh addressed the conference participants with welcoming remarks. The opening session was also traditionally addressed by the ambassadors of the two countries: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to India Denis Alipov and Ambassador of India to Russia Pawan Kapoor.
The conference was held in three sessions covering different spheres of bilateral relations.
On February 2, 2023, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Indian Council on World Affairs (ICWA) held a major annual conference “Russia — India: Contours of Cooperation in a Changing World Order” aimed at a comprehensive assessment of the state of relations between Moscow and New Delhi in global, regional and bilateral contexts.
RIAC President Igor Ivanov and ICWA Director General Vijay Thakur Singh addressed the conference participants with welcoming remarks. The opening session was also traditionally addressed by the ambassadors of the two countries: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to India Denis Alipov and Ambassador of India to Russia Pawan Kapoor.
The conference was held in three sessions covering different spheres of bilateral relations.
The first session — "Russian and Indian perspectives on the changing world order" — was devoted to the views of the two countries on ongoing events in world politics and the role of international organizations and groupings in the transformation of the world order. The Russian side was represented by Victoria Panova, Vice Rector of the HSE University, Women 20 (W20) sherpa for Russia, RIAC member; Maxim Kharkevich, Associate Professor of the Department of Global Political Processes, MGIMO University; and Alexey Kupriyanov, Head of Center of Indian Ocean Region at IMEMO RAS, while the Indian side was represented by Gulshan Sachdeva, Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Himani Pant, Research Fellow at ICWA. The two sides agreed on the importance of consultations to gain a deeper understanding of each others approaches to the forming multipolar international system.
The second session — "Russian — Indian Economic and Strategic partnership" — was devoted to the practical challenges and opportunities of bilateral trade, energy and high-tech cooperation. Participants discussed new prospects and challenges for deepening the cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi, opportunities for expanding person-to-person ties and academic cooperation. Andrey Klepach, Chief Economist, VEB.RF, RIAC member; Suba Chandran, Dean, School of Conflict and Security Studies, National Institute of Advanced Studies; Oleg Shutenko, Deputy Head at the Committee on International Cooperation of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; Ivan Danilin, Head of the Science and Innovation Department at the IMEMO RAS; and Gulshan Sachdeva participated in the session.
The third session — "Increasing connectivity in Eurasia: local projects on a global scale" — focused on the prospects for improving regional connectivity in Eurasia and the role of Russia and India in this process. Special attention was paid to the possibilities of improving the North-South ITC, using the corridor for transportation to the Persian Gulf and North Africa in the medium term, and utilizing its central position for regional connectivity in Eurasia. Atar Zafar, Senior Research Fellow at ICWA; Natalia Zadonskaya, Head, Sector of International Communication and Logistics of International Transport Corridors of the Directorate of International Transport Corridors, and Suba Chandran shared their views on the matter.
The sessions were moderated by RIAC Director General Ivan Timofeev, RIAC Academic Director Andrey Kortunov, Alexey Kupriyanov and Alexey Zakharov, Research Fellow at the International Laboratory of World Order Studies and New Regionalism at the HSE University, respectively.
After the end of the conference Ivan Timofeev and Vijay Thakur Singh signed the updated version of the Memorandum of understanding covering the cooperation between the think tanks.
