After an impactful 2023 that saw the eyes of the world turn to India during its G20 presidency, and an unprecedented number of high-level engagements between our two nations, the Institute is now gearing up for another full suite of activity for the Australia India relationship. And our focus on education, skills and research collaboration will continue to be at the forefront.
Whilst the QUAD summit will be hosted by India for the first time this year, all eyes are currently on the upcoming Indian Ocean conference to be held in Perth with participation from India’s External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar and Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. This conference will grapple with some of the most pressing challenges facing the Indian Ocean region and the outcomes will feed into the Institute’s work on our Defence Program.
My warmest welcome to the new Indian High Commissioner to Australia His Excellency Mr Gopal Baglay. I had a delightful conversation with His Excellency only two weeks into the new role and discovered this is his first visit to Australia. The Institute is looking forward to further interactions throughout the year ahead.
I was delighted to recently host an important ‘In Conversation’ panel on Critical Minerals: The role the Quad should play in building a prosperous and secure region, and welcome Mr Pradeep Mehta to the Institute from CUTS International along with Associate Professor Mohan Yellishetty from Monash University for a deep dive into the global challenges of technology, sustainability and integrity in supply chains.
I will be travelling to India this month for India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, the Raisina Dialogue. I will be moderating a defence panel to tackle some of the most pressing issues and conflicts facing the global community.
Finally, the Institute will have a deeper focus on sustainability this year and is renaming one of its pillar programs to ‘Sustainable Economies’ to highlight this important focus. I am looking forward to engaging clean energy stakeholders in India this month on our plans in making impact in this space.
Best,
Lisa