“India’s Foreign Policy: New Initiatives for Development Partnership”06:00 pm to 07:00 pm: 31 January, 2013 WWF Auditorium, 172 – B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi

An important emerging trend in Indian Foreign Policy is witnessed with India becoming a major development partner for many countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia & Africa. To know more about this trend, Aspen Institute India invites you to join a conversation on “India’s Foreign Policy: New Initiatives for Development Partnership” with Ambassador P.S. Raghavan, Additional Secretary, Development Partnership Administration (DPA), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and Mr. Gautam Thapar, Chairman, Aspen Institute India & Chairman, Avantha Group. Ambassador Raghavan will describe recent initiatives taken by MEA to streamline the process of formulating and implementing India's development projects abroad, including capacity building, lines of credit and grant assistance.  Participation is restricted and will be by prior registration only.

WHEN Thursday, January 31, 2013 6:00 PM  - 7:00 PM  Registration : 5:30 pm  WHEREWWF Auditorium172 – B Lodhi Estate, New Delhi     RSVPThursday, January 31, 2013 by 10:00 AM

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Born in 1955, Ambassador Raghavan took a B.Sc Honours degree in Physics from St Stephen's College, Delhi University in 1975 and a B.E. degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1978. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1979. Between 1979 and 1994, he held a number of diplomatic positions in the Indian Missions in Moscow [then USSR], Warsaw [Poland] and London [United Kingdom], interspersed with tenures in the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. In 1994, he was appointed Consul General of India in Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam] and in 1997, Deputy High Commissioner of India to South Africa in Pretoria. From 2000 to 2004, Ambassador Raghavan was Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi, dealing with Foreign Affairs, Defence & National Security. He was Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic (2004-2007) and Ambassador of India to Ireland (2007-2011). Since July 2011, he has been Additional Secretary & Foreign Service Inspector in the Ministry of External Affairs. In January 2012, he was appointed to head the newly-created Development Partnership Administration in the Ministry, which is charged with the task of ensuring the efficient implementation of India’s economic partnership programmes in developing countries. He was Chief Coordinator of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation [IOR-ARC] Ministerial Conference in Bangalore (November 2011) and of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi (March 2012).In July 2012, Ambassador Raghavan was Special Envoy of the External Affairs Minister to the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa. Since August 2012, he is Special Envoy of the Government of India to Sudan and South Sudan.Ambassador Raghavan is married. His interests include reading and a variety of sports, which he follows with keen interest, participating in some of them.  Born in 1960, Gautam Thapar was educated at the Doon School in India and studied chemical engineering in the U.S. at Pratt University. Upon returning to India, he worked as a factory assistant in one of his family-owned manufacturing companies. He rose steadily and steered the organisation through a strategic and visionary turnaround. Gautam became Group Chairman in 2006, and the conglomerate was rebranded as Avantha in 2007. With a global footprint in more than 20 countries, Avantha today has business interests in diverse areas, including pulp & paper, power transmission & distribution equipment and services, food processing, farm forestry, energy, chemicals, insurance, infrastructure, information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services. Gautam passionately promotes education, leadership development and sports. He is President of Thapar University, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Chairman of The Aspen Institute India, Past President of All India Management Association (AIMA), and President of the Professional Golf Tour of India. One of India's youngest global business leaders, Gautam has been appointed Board Member of the National Security Advisory Board.  He received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Manufacturing in 2008.