India’s first mission to the moon Chandrayaan 1 launched in 2008, the same year that the Australia India Institute was founded. So it’s fitting that for the first time the Institute, in partnership with the Australian Space Agency and the University of Technology Sydney, hosted ‘Australia-India Space Cooperation: Unlocking International Potential’. This important event highlighted the strength of the bilateral space relationship. The potential for collaboration between Australia and India in space exploration is boundless- the sky is not the limit, but just the beginning!
I had the honour of meeting peace activist, politician and granddaughter to Mahatma Gandhi, the honourable Ela Gandhi at the Phoenix Settlement in Durban. Together, we recorded a podcast about her life carrying forward the legacy of her grandfather and his values of truth and non-violence. It was part of a productive visit to South Africa which included the Institute partnering with two think tanks to host roundtables on Indian Ocean security and Australia-India-South Africa cooperation.
Continuing our multilateral focus, I was a panelist in AIIA Victoria’s ‘Bangladesh and the Maldives: Trade, Politics, Security, and the India factor’ seminar in partnership with Asialink, DFAT Victoria and the Confederation of Indian Industry. At a time of profound geopolitical change, the panel centred around trade and security concerns with Bangladesh and the Maldives.
This month the Institute remembers Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary; a Bengali polymath, poet, music composer, social reformer, and visionary. In 2023, the Institute’s team had the opportunity of visiting Shantiniketan, Tagore’s home, museum, library and the Visva Bharti University founded by Tagore. The Institute proudly houses a Tagore bust to pay tribute to this visionary whose literary works continue to inspire generations with his timeless wisdom and universal appeal.
Best,
Lisa