The Quad Plus Dialogue is held every quarter since 2013 and the Vivekananda International Foundation has been the designated think tank representing India since the inception of this dialogue. Apart from VIF, the other think tanks from Quad members include Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Japan; Heritage Foundation, US and Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Australia. Meetings of this Group are organised on a quarterly basis. The latest round of this meeting was organised virtually on 13 October 2021 and was hosted by The Heritage Foundation. In addition to above mentioned partners, Germany joined as “Plus partner" in this editionand was represented by the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). Representatives from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) also addressed the Group and discussed NATO’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific broadly, and with the Quad and Quad-related organizations specifically.
The VIF, in collaboration with the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) organised a virtual discussion on "Post Covid Global and Regional Trends and India-Russia Relations on 23 June. The participants in the discussion included Dr. Arvind Gupta, Andrey Kortunov, Nikolay Kudashev, DB Venkatesh Varma, Amb. Kanwal Sibal, Victoria Panova, Andrey Volodin, Amb. Anil Wadhwa, P.S. Raghavan, Gleb Ivashentsov and Lt. Gen Ravi K Sawhney. The discussion saw a candid exchange of views with respect to three important topical themes: emerging global and regional trends in the post Covid world; developments in the Indo-Pacific; and trends in India-Russia ties.
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India and Iran share close historical and cultural links dating back to ancient times. In contemporary times, this relationship is multi-faceted and includes cooperation in political, trade-economic, security and multiple other sectors. In order to assess the dynamics of India-Iran relations, the
Vivekananda International Foundation organised a panel discussion on Jan 11, 2021 to commemorate the 158th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The eminent speakers invited to the panel were Swami Shuddhidananda, Adhyaksha, Advaita Ashrama (branch of Ramkrishna Math and Vision), Kum. Nivedita Bhide, All India Vice President, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, Dr R Balasubramaniam, Founder, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement & Grassroots Research And Advocacy Movement. The panel discussion began with the opening remarks from Dr Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF India.
Tags: Education, Humanity, National Development, Significance of Atman, Swami Vivekananda, Vedanta
The United Kingdom released its “Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy” on 16 March 2021. Titled ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age’, the document stands out for shaping the country’s post-Brexit foreign, defence, security and development priorities and policies. A notable aspect of the review is the UK’s foreign and security policy ‘tilt’ towards the Indo-Pacific region. China, India and Japan are recognised as the three most important powers in this region with widely differing characteristics and relationships with the UK. The UK seeks to “deepen” engagement in the Indo-Pacific with an ambitious goal of being the European partner “with the broadest and most integrated presence” in the region.
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The VIF organised a series of lectures on India’s national security and strategic culture as a part of the workshop for students/youth/scholars/professionals from 25 to 27 Feb 2021. The aims of the workshop was to give a chance to young students, researchers and professionals from other disciplines to learn the necessary conceptual frameworks and promote Indian precepts and concepts as well as methods of analysis to conduct advanced historical and theoretical research in the field of strategic and security studies. The three-day’ workshop elicited a very good response as over 100 participants from diverse backgrounds and regions of India took part in the deliberations.
Tags: India's National Security, India’s Civilization, strategic culture, workshop
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On 07 April 2021, Pathfinder Foundation ([PF) and Vivekananda International Foundation organised a webinar on ‘Connectivity between India and Sri Lanka’. Dr Arvind Gupta, Director VIF, welcomed the participants and delivered the opening remarks. The webinar included brief presentations by Professor Rohan Samarajiva, Mr Bipul Chaterjee, Mr Sanjay Chadha, and Dr Ravi Rathnayake, followed by remarks from Mr Abdul Azeez, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka. The webinar is part of a series of webinars to understand the prospects of connectivity between India and Sri Lanka. Mr Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman, PF, also welcomed the participants and gave introductory remarks.
The III Edition of Samvad at Ulaanbaatar was a great success in many ways. In particular it cemented the relation between India and Mongolia as Spiritual Partners. It was held in the premises of Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar.
Tags: Conflict Avoidance, Global Hindu-Buddhist Initiative, Inter-Religious Understanding, Interdependent Sustainability, Samvad, Ulaanbaatar
A delegation from VIF led by Dr. Arvind Gupta, Director and comprising of Lt Gen (Retd) Ravi Sawhney, Amb (Retd) Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Dr Sreeradha Datta and Col Jaideep Chanda visited Myanmar from 9 – 12 December 2019.
Tags: Foreign Affairs, Human Rights Commission, MIPS, MISS, Rohingya, UEHRD, Visit to Myanmar
On 27-28 November 2019, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) hosted the Second Edition of the BIMSTEC Think-Tanks Conference in New Delhi. The BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a regional multilateral organisation founded in 1997 and comprises the seven littorals of the world’s largest bay viz. the Bay of Bengal.
Tags: Bay of Bengal, BIMSTEC, Capacity Building, Climate Change, Cyber Security, economic cooperation, Maritime Domain Awareness, Multi-Sectoral Technical, Social Media