Organised by: Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi.
Date & Time: September 17, 2021, at 05.00 PM
Webinar: CPPR Webinar Series on the Political Crisis in Afghanistan: The National Interests of India and China.
Proceedings Report
About the Event: The Centre for Public Policy Research, Kochi organised a panel discussion as part of its webinar series on the situation in Afghanistan, with a special focus on the implications of a Taliban-led Kabul for India and China.
Panelists
Ambassador Venu Rajamony has been the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Permanent Representative of India to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, and was responsible for India’s relations with the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He was the Press Secretary to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. He has also served as Joint Secretary and head of Multilateral Institutions Division of the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India from 2010-12, where he was responsible for formulating India’s policies towards the IMF, WB and IFAD. He was India’s Deputy to the International Development Association and member of India’s delegations to the Fund Bank meetings and meetings of the ADB. He is Professor of Diplomatic Practice at the Jindal Global Law School of the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana. He has recently been appointed as Kerala government’s OSD for External Cooperation and will liaise with the Ministry of External Affairs, foreign missions in New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, and diplomatic missions abroad on various matters. He is also an Advisor to the CPPR.
Professor Harsh V Pant is the Director, Studies and Head of the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. He holds a joint appointment with the Department of Defence Studies and King’s India Institute as Professor of International Relations at King’s College London. He is also a Non-Resident Fellow with the Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC. Professor Pant has been a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore; a Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania; a Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Peace and Security Studies, McGill University; and an Emerging Leaders Fellow at the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne. His current research is focused on Asian security issues. He writes extensively on foreign policy issues for the Japan Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National (UAE), the Hindustan Times, and The Telegraph. He is also the author of several books like India’s Nuclear Policy, The US Pivot and Indian Foreign Policy, Handbook of Indian Defence Policy, India’s Afghan Muddle, and The US-India Nuclear Pact: Policy, Process and Great Power Politics.
Moderator
Dr Shelly Johny is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at St. Aloysius College Thrissur. He has held research positions at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi, which is a think tank of the Indian Air Force, and the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), New Delhi, which is under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. His research interests include contemporary West Asia with special emphasis on the Arab Gulf states, Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah and the Af-Pak region. Within these regions, the focus is on the nature and development of the ongoing conflicts in these regions and the overall security and terrorism-related aspects. His other research interests include the nature of material and cultural exchanges between West Asia and South Asia in the early historical period through both overland and maritime routes. He is also a Senior Fellow (West Asian & Security Studies) with the CPPR.