| The 21st century is marked by the unprecedented growth of China, which has made significant progress over the last decade in sustaining and broadening its economic development. According to the World Bank, China is the second largest economy and is increasingly playing an important and influential role in the global economy. In fact, China’s leaders have embarked on a conscious strategy to reshape the economy of Asia and the world to their advantage.
Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, the “One Belt, One Road” is the most far-reaching initiative that China has ever put forward. Through this project, China is planning to alter the region’s economic architecture, patterns of regional trade, investment and infrastructure development. The ambitious project plans to connect China with Europe and Africa by road, rail and sea by a network of transport and industrial corridors. This session, first in the series under “The China Symposia”, will feature experts from diverse fields who will evaluate the opportunities and challenges for India of China’s ‘Silk Road’ economic strategy. |
| SPEAKERS |
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AMBASSADOR SHYAM SARAN, Chairman, Research & Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research (CPR)
Shyam Saran, 67, is a former Foreign Secretary and has served as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change and Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board. He is currently Chairman of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries. He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. Saran was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest national award, in January 2011 for his contributions to Civil Service. |
| He writes and speaks regularly on foreign policy, climate change, energy security and national and international security related issues. |
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MR RAVI BHOOTHALINGAM, Founder and Chairman, Manas Advisory and Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS)
Ravi Bhoothalingam is Founder and Chairman of Manas Advisory, a consultancy practice focusing on Leadership Coaching as well as on business and cultural relations with China, Mongolia and Myanmar. He is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He is a B.Sc Hons in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and holds a Masters degree [M.A. Cantab] in Experimental Psychology from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, guided by the renowned Sinologist and scientist Joseph Needham. |
| He also holds an AMP from Harvard. Ravi Bhoothalingam serves on the Boards of Directors of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, Hyderabad, India and Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd, New Delhi, India. Earlier, he held senior positions in industry including as President of Oberoi Hotels and Head of Personnel Worldwide of BAT Industries plc. Ravi has travelled extensively in China and its neighbourhood. He is a member of the 4-country Joint Study Group examining the feasibility of a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor. Ravi is a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Core Group on China and sits on the Editorial Boards of China Report and World Affairs. His interests also cover Confucianism, Sino-Indian business and economic ties, and adventure travel in the remote regions of China. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London, and a member of the Court of Governors of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, India. |
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MS SUHASINI HAIDER, Diplomatic Editor, the Hindu
Suhasini Haidar is the Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, one of India’s oldest and most respected national dailies (www.thehindu.com). Prior to this, Suhasini was Foreign Affairs editor and prime time anchor for India’s leading 24-hr English news channel CNN-IBN (2005-2014), where she presented the signature show “WorldView with Suhasini Haidar”, and Correspondent for CNN International’s New Delhi bureau before that. In 2015, she was the recipient of the most prestigious Indian print journalism ‘Prem Bhatia’ award, and has won a series of awards for her work in Television as well. |
| Over the course of her 20-year reporting career, Suhasini has covered the most challenging stories & conflicts from the most diverse regions including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Lebanon and Syria. In India, she has covered the foreign affairs beat for over a decade and her domestic assignments include political profiles and in-depth reportage from conflict zones including Kashmir, where she was injured in a bomb blast in 2000. Suhasini Haidar worked with CNN International from 1995-2005, regularly reporting from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. She was part of the CNN team that won the Columbia-Dupont Broadcast Journalism Award in 2005 for coverage of the tsunami in India, and worked for CNN.com in New York for a month during its 9/11 coverage. Suhasini began her career in journalism as an intern at CNN’s United Nation’s bureau in New York in 1994, after which she joined CNN New Delhi bureau as a producer in April 1995. Suhasini earned a Bachelor’s degree at Lady Shriram College in Delhi, and then completed her Masters in Broadcast Journalism at Boston University’s College of Communication, USA. She lives in Delhi with her husband Nadim and her two daughters Ava Mumtaz and Maya Mehr. |
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| CHAIR |
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AMBASSADOR KISHAN S RANA, Former Indian Ambassador to Germany and Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS)
Ambassador Kishan S. Rana is a career diplomat who joined Indian Foreign Service in 1960. He served as Ambassador/High Commissioner to Algeria, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, Mauritius, and Germany; also consul general in San Francisco and worked in China (1963-65, 1970-72). He also served on staff of PM Indira Gandhi (1981-82). In addition, Ambassador Rana is a Professor Emeritus, DiploFoundation, Malta and Geneva; Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi; Archives By-Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge; Public Policy Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Centre, Washington DC; guest faculty, Diplomatic Academy, Vienna; Commonwealth Adviser, Namibia Foreign Ministry, 2000-01. |
| Ambassador Rana authored number of books on diplomacy and international affairs such as Inside Diplomacy (2000); Managing Corporate Culture (co-author, 2000); Bilateral Diplomacy (2002); The 21st Century Ambassador (2004); Asian Diplomacy (2007); Diplomacy of the 21st Century (2011); India’s North-East States, the BCIM Forum and Regional Integration, (co-author, 2012); The Contemporary Embassy (2013). Ambassador Rana is fluent in Chinese and French. He holds a BA (Hons) and a MA in economics from St Stephens College, Delhi. |
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