In some ways, the challenges are even more daunting than they were at the peak of the Cold War. Not only do we continue to face grave nuclear threats, but those threats are being compounded by new weapons developments, new violence within States and new challenges to the rule of law. 
— Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations.

In the last three years alone, the world has faced more armed violence than it has in the last three decades. From Russia and Ukraine, or Israel and Palestine, to the rapid escalation of political shifts in Syria or the Sudanese civil war, armed conflict is on the rise world over, with many countries involved both directly and indirectly through funding, defense support, or tariffs and trade restrictions. Conflict-related deaths are at a thirty-year high, including civilians and other non-combatants killed in airstrikes and bombing, or through famine. A new form of warfare, reimagined from the ideologies of the early 20th century, has sprung up in the last few years. Rather than the narrow scope of the war on terror, these conflicts now exhibit a commitment to war that is all-consuming and globally damaging.

Conflicts also have long-lasting effects on the economy, both domestic and global. Trends of inflation, extreme poverty, and food and fuel shortages persist. The cost of rebuilding affected regions is staggering: for example, rebuilding Gaza would take an estimated USD 80 billion. In addition to this, conflict is also re-shaping global economic relationships. Asia, particularly, is adversely affected by the escalating tensions world over. Retaliatory tariffs, market turbulence, and a “dual shock” to the global commodity markets are just a few likely risks and outcomes. In these conditions, business leaders world over identify geopolitical instability as the single largest threat to their businesses, both domestically and internationally.

What is the nature of conflict today, and how can we better understand the changing power structures among countries, and the economic impact in the short- and long-term for India and Asia? What can India and Asia expect in 2025, and is there scope for de-escalation? How can business leaders understand the state of the world today, to make informed decisions on resilience and growth? To discuss these questions, Kishore Mahbubani, former Diplomat and Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Professor C Raja Mohan, Non-Resident Distinguished Fellow with the Asia Society Policy Institute and Taimur Baig, Managing Director and Chief Economist, DBS Bank, will be in conversation with Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu. 
 
This event is open to the public, and attendance is by registration. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis, and Asia Society members will receive priority seating. 
 

SPEAKERS
 

Kishore Mahbubani dedicated over four decades of his life to public service, for which he was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Gold) by the Singapore Government in 1998. In his 33 years as a Singapore diplomat, Kishore took on many challenging assignments, serving for example in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 1973-74 during the Cambodian Civil War. He also served two stints as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN (1984-1989 and 1998-2004) and held the position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1998.

Kishore had an equally illustrious career in academia. He was appointed the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in August 2004 and led the School until 2017. Despite his duties, as diplomat and Dean, Kishore is a prolific author and has published ten books. His ninth book, The Asian 21st Century, is an open access volume which has been downloaded over 3.5 million times. His latest book, a memoir titled Living the Asian Century, was published in August 2024. 

Kishore has been listed among the world’s top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines and among the Top 50 individuals who would shape the debate on the future of capitalism by the Financial Times. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October 2019. More information can be found on http://www.mahbubani.net. 

Taimur Baig, PhD, heads global economics as well as macro strategy for interest rate, credit, and currency at DBS Group Research. He also advises the bank on risk management and investment strategy. 

Prior to joining DBS in 2017, Dr. Baig was a Principal Economist at the Economic Policy Group, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Earlier, he spent nine years at Deutsche Bank’s Singapore office, where his last position was Managing Director and Chief Economist, Asia. During 1999-2007, he was based in Washington, DC, at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund, where his last position was Senior Economist. 

Dr. Baig has published extensively for both specialists and a general audience, on areas including monetary policy, digital currency, financial technology, climate change, demographics, frontier markets, fiscal policy efficacy, and financial market contagion. He is the host of “Kopi Time,” a widely followed podcast series on markets and economies.

Dr. Baig is an Honorary Advisor to the Global CFO Network, Director Fellow at the Asian Financial Cooperation Association, and Council Member of the Economic Society of Singapore. Dr. Baig holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. He attended London School of Economics and Wabash College for his B.A. in Economics. 

Prof. C. Raja Mohan is a former Director of Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and currently a Visiting Research Professor there.  Earlier he served as a Professor of South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Professor Mohan is one of India’s leading commentators on India’s foreign policy. He has been associated with several think tanks such as the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, the Centre for Policy Research and the Observer Research Foundation. He was also the founding director of Carnegie India, New Delhi and set up the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi. He was the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in International Affairs at the United States Library of Congress, Washington DC, from 2009 to 2010. He served on India’s National Security Advisory Board. He led the Indian Chapter of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from 1999 to 2006.

Prof Mohan’s research interests include Asian geopolitics, Indian foreign and security policies, and the global governance of new technologies. He writes a regular column for Foreign Policy the Indian Express and was earlier the Strategic Affairs Editor for The Hindu newspaper, Chennai. Among his recent books are Samudra Manthan: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific (2013), Modi’s World: Expanding India’s Sphere of Influence (2015), and The New Asian Geopolitics: Military Power and Regional Order (2021). 

Suhasini Haidar is the Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, one of India’s oldest and most respected national dailies (www.thehindu.com), regularly writing on Foreign policy issues, and hosts a weekly online show "WorldView with Suhasini Haidar" (Youtube playlist). 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), 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 29-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.  

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