Foreword
The second Gateway of India Geoeconomic Dialogue was held at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India on 13-14 February 2017. The conference’s theme, ‘Where Geopolitics Meets Business’, continues to be a compelling one, especially as India’s diplomacy is conjoining with its domestic developmental and business interests.
The Geoeconomic Dialogue was co-hosted by Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
This, the second edition of the signature conference, has increased in its convening power, bringing in 370 delegates from 22 countries, with 40 expert panellists from 13 nations. In its expanded scope of geoeconomics and foreign policy, there was high-level representation from multilateral institutions, including the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. As with the last conference, delegates included influential scholars from geoeconomic think tanks, technocrats and politicians from around the world as also a robust representation from Mumbai’s business community, the Maharashtra state government and India’s defence services. Supporting our efforts were the Export-Import Bank of India, City and Industrial Development Corporation Limited for Maharashtra (CIDCO), Ambit and Signet Chemical Corporation.
The Gateway of India Geoeconomic Dialogue coincided, as is now customary, with a meeting of the Think Tank 20 group, which is the ideas bank for the G20. A round table discussion for the T20, the ‘Dialogue on the Emerging World Economy’, was held under the official banner of the 2017 German presidency of the G20. Gateway House hosted this meeting in collaboration with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy with support from Siemens India and German development agency, GIZ India.
This year, experts from 15 highly rated international economics-focused think tanks and 10 Indian think tanks participated in the day-long roundtable discussion.
The Gateway of India Geoeconomic Dialogue too had substantive discussions on India’s role in geoeconomic and geopolitical trends. The debate on globalisation, the use and abuse of capital flows, the disruption in global business models due to digitisation and financialisation, the challenges in creating a defence industrial base for India, and aligning developmental and diplomatic goals, were discussed in depth at the colloquium.
Mumbai’s business community and the Maharashtra state government appreciated the attention the conference brought to the city, and to the role of business in India’s diplomatic outreach. The Geoeconomic Dialogue is now firmly established as a signature event in the international calendar of geoeconomic conferences during which our Ministry of External Affairs can articulate its global vision for India to a diverse and discerning audience.
Gateway House continues to be animated by its founding mission of bringing business and diplomacy together.
Neelam Deo, Director
Manjeet Kripalani, Executive Director
Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations
Mumbai
You can download the PDF version of this report, here.
This report encapsulates the discussions of the The Gateway of India Geoeconomic Dialogue 2017. You can watch the full conference here.
For more exclusive content from Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, click here.
For interview requests with the authors, or for permission to republish, please contact outreach@gatewayhouse.in.
© Copyright 2017 Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized copying or reproduction is strictly prohibited.