Amid global upheavals—from the Gaza conflict to the war in Ukraine—India’s diplomatic efforts will be crucial in addressing both regional and global crises while advancing its strategic interests. With new leadership coming into the White House and the European Union, pressure on its relationship with Russia, and a cautious thaw in Sino-Indian tensions, India’s strategy of multi-alignment will be tested on multiple fronts. In South Asia, political changes in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also add layers of complexity to India’s neighborhood diplomacy.

Join the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) for an in-depth discussion on India’s foreign policy priorities for 2025. This conversation will explore the Modi government’s approach to managing its key international relationships, navigating regional dynamics, and addressing the broader geopolitical and geoeconomic opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

The virtual discussion, moderated by James Crabtree, TOY Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute and Asia Society Switzerland, will feature: Farwa Aamer, Director of South Asia Initiatives, Asia Society Policy Institute, Akshay Mathur, Senior Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute's Delhi office, and Ambassador Nirupama Rao, former Foreign Secretary of India.

Speakers

Nirupama Rao is a former Indian diplomat. She was Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, (2009-2011). She was the first woman spokesperson (2001-02) of the Indian foreign office. She served as India's first woman High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Sri Lanka (2004-2006) and to the People's Republic of China (2006-2009). She was Ambassador of India to the United States from 2011 to 2013. In retirement she has taught at Brown and Columbia Universities, was a Fellow at the New School in New York, and a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C.  She is also the Vice-Chairman of Tibet House, New Delhi, the Cultural Center of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She is currently a (non-resident) Global Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center. Her book entitled "The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China, 1949 to 1962" was published in 2021.

Akshay Mathur is the Senior Director, Asia Society Policy Institute based in New Delhi responsible for the institute's policy mandate in India. His area of expertise is Geoeconomics, specifically international financial architecture, global trading system, global economic governance, and global digital governance.

He is also concurrently a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Digital Economy Programme at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) based in Canada. Previously, Akshay has led Mumbai-based, business-supported, independent foreign policy think tanks - Gateway House and Observer Research Foundation Mumbai. He has written columns for Indian and foreign news publications, led Indian government-supported Track Two dialogues with other countries, published research for various Indian and global think tanks, and convened and spoken at several Indian and global forums on international, domestic, and local policymaking. He represented India at the inaugural cohort of the Asia Global Fellows programme for mid-career leaders in the field of global policymaking hosted by the Asia Global Institute in Hong Kong in 2017 and the Georgetown University’s Young Leaders Forum in Qatar in 2012.

Akshay has advanced degrees in policy, business, and technology, specifically an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as the Edward Mason Fellow, an MBA from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business with a concentration in Finance and Business Analysis, and a B.S. in Computer Science from the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Farwa Aamer is the Director of South Asia Initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) in New York where she oversees the institute’s policy work and projects in South Asia.

Prior to ASPI, Farwa worked at the Stimson Center where she led research on the security, political, and socio-economic dimensions of transboundary river governance in the Himalayan region. Through her work, Farwa has organized and convened high-level Track II dialogues and discussions designed to facilitate greater inter-and intra-regional cooperation on issues and opportunities concerning water, energy, climate change, and sustainable development in South Asia, MENA, and Central Asia. Farwa also worked on highlighting the disproportionate impacts of climate change and water insecurity on women. From 2017 to 2021, Farwa was with the EastWest Institute (EWI) and served as the Director of the South Asia program. At EWI, Farwa worked on promoting non-traditional channels of diplomacy and establishing multi-stakeholder platforms for shared economic, financial, and geopolitical interests by bringing together policy shapers, media influencers, thought leaders, and business experts from within South Asia and across the globe.

Farwa received her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from University College London (UCL) and has a Masters in Management with Finance from BPP Business School, London.

James Crabtree serves as a TOY Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute and Asia Society Switzerland. James is a geopolitical analyst and author, with extensive experience living and working in Asia. His book The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age, was named an Amazon book of the year and short-listed as FT / McKinsey business book of the year. He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he was the Singapore-based Executive Director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies in Asia, where he led the organization of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit, and an Associate Professor in Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School, Asia’s leading school of public policy.

James spent ten years as a journalist and foreign correspondent, notably for the Financial Times, where he was both Mumbai Bureau Chief and Comment Editor. He is currently a columnist for Foreign Policy, and writes for publications ranging from the FT and Straits Times to the New York Times, the Guardian and Wired. He previously worked as a senior advisor in the UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, under Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. He has worked for various think tanks in London and Washington DC, and spent a number of years living in America, initially as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.