Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia is a Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Programme at Gateway House. As Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) from 2012-15, he played a key role in strengthening India's Track-II research and outreach activities. During a 37-year innings in the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), he served as Ambassador to Myanmar and Mexico and as High Commissioner to Kenya and South Africa. He dealt with a part of South Asia, while posted as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. A prolific columnist, he also delivers lectures on foreign policy issues in India and abroad. He was Senior Visiting Research Fellow during 2011-13 at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. He holds a Masters degree in political science from Allahabad University. His book India-Myanmar Relations: Changing contours (Routledge) has received critical acclaim.
Expertise
Myanmar, East Asia, South Asia, Indian Ocean, Africa, Regional Groupings, Indian Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
Maldives’ new president, Ibrahim Solih, has had two election wins in a span of six months – his own in September 2018 and his Maldivian Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the Majlis elections about three weeks ago. An analysis of what this win says about democratic politics in Maldives, improved relations with India and the complex equation it shares with China
Canada, which has been slow to respond to a changing trans-Pacific neighbourhood, can join India and the ASEAN member states to embark on a trilateral dialogue on the Indo-Pacific’s importance in terms of political, strategic and other domains. An alignment in outlook can strengthen the security and prosperity of a region, currently mired in U.S.-China rivalries
This lecture, which covers the genesis and much larger profile of the Act East Policy (AEP) in relation to its predecessor, also explains its defining points of divergence and emphasis
Philippines, Cambodia and Lao PDR face a range of development challenges at home even as they respond dynamically to shifting priorities in external relations. With U.S.-China competition increasingly shaping this part of the world, will India provide some balance? An insider’s account of how three less noticed ASEAN countries are coping with geopolitical changes
The following is a summary of a speech given by Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, Gateway House at a conference on 'Values in Foreign Policy: Interests and Ideals', organised by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on March 1, 2019
Bangladesh faces several major challenges in its external relations. It showed humanitarianism in receiving the fleeing Rohingyas, but its diplomatic efforts to repatriate them have not succeeded. It must also maintain a balance between relations with India and China and show proactive leadership in garnering regional cooperation
The key global powers are redefining their roles in the Indo-Pacific to promote national interest. China’s rise and increased activism in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region is an uncontested reality even as Asian countries worry about the new cold war in which the U.S. and China are locked. The Quadrilateral Dialogue has reemerged to prevent a unipolar Asia — these are some of the trends unfolding in this arena
Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, is a popular, yet controversial figure in a complex country, battling a mix of challenges. In external relations, he has followed a careful balancing policy, giving primacy to China, U.S. and the ASEAN
The following speech was given by Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, Gateway House, at a roundtable discussion at the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies in New Delhi, on 7 February, 2019
The following remarks were given by Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, Gateway House as Distinguished Guest Lecturer at IIM Tiruchirappalli on February 3, 2019
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