Ministry of External Affairs Government of India

PM to attend the inaugural session

21@20 Navigating the Alpha Century,
14-16 January 2020, New Delhi

• The 5th edition of the prestigious Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship global Conference engaging with geopolitics and geo-economics, kicks-off tomorrow. The Dialogue, jointly organised by MEA and the Observer Research Foundation, has been India’s contribution to global efforts to discover solutions, identify opportunities and provide stability to a century that has witnessed an eventful two decades.
• Raisina Dialogue 2020 will bring together 700 international participants from over a 100 countries, of which 80 are from Africa, in one of the largest gathering of its kind. A remarkable 40% of the Speakers will be women, emphasising our commitment to gender equality. As in the previous editions, the Dialogue will have high level participation from 12 Foreign Ministers including the Foreign Ministers of Russia, Iran, Australia, Maldives, South Africa, Estonia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Uzbekistan and EU. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will also be be participating on 15th January to share his insights on India’s growing role in the world. The Secretary General of the SCO and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth will also attend. The NSA of Afghanistan, the Deputy NSA of the United States and several Minister of State including from Germany will also present their ideas. The Heads of over 30 think-tanks from around the world will also moderate or present their view points across different sessions. India will thus be uniquely placed to host exchange of diverse view-points from around the world.
• The inaugural session on 14th January will be attended by the Prime Minister of India. Seven former Heads of State/Government, with high international stature and rich experience in governance, will share their views during the inaugural session on important challenges facing the world related to globalisation, 2030 agenda, role of technology in modern world, climate change and counter-terrorism. The former Heads of Government who will engage in a discussion are Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan, Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada, Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden, Anders Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark, Tshering Tobgay, former Prime Minister of Bhutan and Han Seung-soo, former Prime Minister of South Korea.
• Over the course of two days thereafter (15-16 January), intensive deliberations will take place over 80 sessions around 5 thematic pillars – the nationalist impulses challenging global institutions and collective action, the debate on the global trading architecture, the role of technologies in determining political, economic and military power, the global development agenda and the state-individual relationship in the age of digital communities and cyberspace.
• In the short space of five years, the Raisina Dialogue has acquired an enviable global profile uniting the best strategic thinkers of the world. The synergies and collaborations in the Raisina Dialogue represent India’s deliberative ethos, as well as its international credibility and convening power. The Raisina Dialogue has grown along with India’s diplomatic profile, and will set the tone for its intensive diplomatic engagement this year.