MEA to start two-day dialogue to seek expert views on foreign policy

This is in line with PM's idea to engage wide range of experts in policy making

The central ministry of external affairs will hold a two-day ‘India dialogue — Where geopolitics meets business’ here on Monday. It will get think tank and policy experts’ views on foreign policy and implications from and on international trade.

Foreign secretary S Jaishankar will inaugurate it; the other organiser is city-based Gateway House. An official of the latter told this newspaper: ''Around the world, governments are aligning foreign policy and business priorities to formulate a comprehensive foreign economic policy. India is being propelled rapidly on this path by its national economic objectives, foreign business interests, shifting global investment trends, and commitments to multilateral economic forums. Now is the time for business and government to creatively design a foreign economic policy together.''

In January, he recalled, the MEA and the Observer Research Foundation had organised another such dialogue in Delhi.

Three Union ministers — Dharmendra Pradhan, V K Singh and Kiren Rijiju — will be present in panel discussions on power, cyber security and terrorism and India's global engagement strategy. There will also be deliberations on shift of influence from oil-rich countries in West Asia to the newly producing developed countries, and from physical markets to commodity markets.

Manipal Group chairman Mohandas Pai will speak on ‘Innovating for Asian integration’. Securities & Exchange Board of India chairman U K Sinha will speak on the politics of global capital. There will also be speakers from abroad, such as German Marshall Fund director Mark Calabria, African Development Bank director Kapil Kapoor and Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency president Serdar Cam.