Raisina Dialogue
The Raisina Dialogue is an annual conference held in New Delhi, envisioned to be India's flagship conference of geopolitics and geo-economics.[1] The conference, organized like the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore[2], is held jointly by Ministry of External Affairs, India and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), an independent think tank based in India. Its inaugural session was held in 2017 with theme of The New Normal : Multilateralism with multipolarity and before that from March 1 through 3rd in 2016. The conference name comes from Raisina Hill, the elevation in New Delhi, which is the location of both the Government of India as well as the presidential palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan. The design of the conference symbol is inspired from Rashtrapati Bhavan.[2][3]
This conference is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectorial conclave, involving policy and decision makers, including cabinet ministers from various Governments, high-level Government officials and policy practitioners, leading personalities from business and industry, and members of the strategic community, media and academia.
Past events
The theme of the first dialogue was "Connecting Asia" which tries to capture the various facets of these ambition. The inaugural dialogue was hosted between March 1 and 3, 2016, in New Delhi and witnessed participation of more than 100 speakers from over 35 countries. Indian news media called the Dialogue as "an attempt at packing a global punch in Delhi".[3]
The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj talking in the first dialogue told "India preaches what it practices" and that "connectivity is very important for progress" and India would work for the development of the region and win over "vested interests".
Second edition of Raisina Dialogue was held from January 19-21, 2017, with the theme of "The New Normal: Multilateralism with Multi-Polarity". It was inaugurated by current PM Narendra Modi, with 69 nations participating. It was conducted in the shadows World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos, where Chinese president Xi Jinping also spoke. Notable was the absence of head of states of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka