Governor Dr SC Jamir addressed the valedictory ceremony as chief guest of the three-day International Conference ‘Purbasa’ –East Meets East organised by the Kalinga International Foundation here on Sunday.
He said the conference supplements Government’s intention and efforts to enhance India’s multifaceted engagement with ASEAN and the wider Asia pacific through a series of events and activities.
The last day’s first technical session was started with topic Regional Connectivity, which was chaired by Prof Baladas Ghoshal, Secretary General, Indian Ocean Studies.
Dr Udai Bhanu Singh, Senior Research Associate, Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), Prof Shankari Sundararaman, Professor, South Eastern Studies; Chairperson, Centre for Indo-Pacific Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof Harsh V Pant, Head of Strategic Studies, ORF, Dr Swarnim Wagle, Vice Chairman, National Planning Commission, Nepal Prof Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh, Dr Nguyen Xuan Trung, Centre for Indian Studies, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Vietnam, Dr Adriana Elisabeth, Head of Centre for Political Studies, Indonesia Institute of Sciences (lIPI) were the panelists in the session.
The second session of the day was based on tourism, culture and Buddhism. The panelists included P S Sahai, former High Commissioner to Malaysia, Prof Benudhar Patra, lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, Jatin Das, P Upendro Sharma, Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Academy, Imphal, Siti Kaprawi, among others.
The third session’s topic was ‘Bilaterals: India’s Most Favoured Nations. It was chaired by Pinak Chakravarty, former Ambassador to Thailand and High Commissioner to Bangladesh. The panellists were Prof V Suryanarayan, Deepa G Wadhwa, Chitraganee Wagiswara, Sidharto R Suryodipuro, Moe Kyaw Aung, among others
The session focussed on mainly bilateral relationship between India with its neighbouring countries like Sri lanka, Japan, Myanmar and Indonesia along with other South-East countries. The speakers of the sessions emphasized on increasing air connectivity between India’s neighbouring countries, more Government-to-Government engagements and sharing new ideas and initiatives towards diplomatic relationships. It was discussed in the session that convergence of values, interest are the main aspects in deepening the relationships.