By Dick Leonard. Source: The European Voice

Just back from India after my first visit in seven years, I had two overwhelming impressions. One was the evidence, wherever I went, that the Indian economy has taken off in a big way and has developed unstoppable momentum.

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By Shairi Mathur. Source: 31 March 2005 India News in Europe

Post-liberalisation, the Indian economy has become an attractive destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Potential foreign investors are lured by the size of the Indian market, low labour costs and an educated pool of management and technical personnel, stable legal system and finally, strategic location of India for expanding into Asian markets.

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By Keith Didcock. Source: Labour Friends of India newsletter

Given our historic links with India, it is easy for the UK to feel complacent about the future of Indo-British relations. A seamless transition from rosy memories of the sunset of empire to Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice suggest that the relationship can continue to glide smoothly along, accommodating changing fashions as it goes. The world, however, is changing and Indo-British relations are being shaped by two forces which mean that the UK's approach to its relations with India must change too.

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Download the article (40 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Foreign Policy Centre

4 December 2006 £9.95 (plus P&P), plus £1 p+p.

Download Balochis of Pakistan: On the margins of history (450 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

On 4 December 2006, the Foreign Policy Centre held a seminar on Balochistan, a volatile region of Pakistan. This was part of a series of events the Foreign Policy Centre is organising in Parliament on conflicts that receive little attention in the media or elsewhere.

The meeting launched the FPC report, Balochis of Pakistan: On the margins of history.

STEPHEN TWIGG, the FPC's Director said:

"This pamphlet sets out a powerful and well argued case that the Balochi people have been let down - by the British Empire, by the founders of modern India and by successive Governments in Pakistan. It is a fascinating analysis which we hope will contribute to constructive discussion about Balochistan's future."

Shairi Mathur

September 2005 £4.95, plus £1 p+p. Buy it on CentralBooks.co.uk

Download Voting for the Veto (170 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

The case for India's permanent seat in the Security Council is as compelling as it is simple. India is the world's largest democracy, soon to be the world's most populous country, and home to over 15 per cent of the world's population; it possesses nuclear weapons and strategic missiles; it has at various times taken a global leadership role, not least in its co-founding of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1955; and as an early champion of the concept of 'peaceful co-existence' between the communist bloc and the free world, India has been a leading advocate of 'peaceful' foreign policies and non-aggression. In 2005, the World Bank ranked India as having the fourth biggest GDP in the world (in terms of purchasing power parity), and tenth biggest (in terms of the conventional GDP measure). India has taken part in more than 30 UN peacekeeping operations. By any sensible measure of 'equity', the reform of the Security Council in 2005 should result in India's elevation to the Security Council with the same powers as China and the USA.

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Prasenjit K. Basu, Brahma Chellaney, Parag Khanna and Sunil Khilani

£9.95, plus £1 p+p. Buy it on CentralBooks.co.uk

Download the report (440 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

In 30 years India's economy could be larger than all but those of the US and China. In this collection of essays, with a preface by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Kamalesh Sharma, four leading thinkers on India explore how it can carve out a world role that best serves its goals and interests.

Further information 

Date: Monday 10th March 2008, 3pm to 5pm

Venue: Grimond Room, Portcullis House, Bridge Street, London, SW1A 2LW

Speakers:

• Salvatore Gabola, Director of Worldwide Stakeholder Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
• Daniel Graymore, Team Leader, Business Alliance Team, Department for International Development
• Daniel Litvin, Director, Critical Resource Strategy & Analysis
• Stephen Twigg (Chair), Director, The Foreign Policy Centre

About this event:

At this event, the Foreign Policy Centre launched a major project on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in emerging markets in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain. The project will explore the role of multinational corporations' CSR practices in emerging markets in the areas of labour standards, marketplace practices, and the environment. With an initial background paper, this launch seminar reviewed recent trends in multinationals' CSR practices, defined the latest debate on CSR, and established the context for the following three seminars which will form part of this project.

This event was held in association with Coca-Cola Great Britain.

Download the initial background paper (140 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

Monday 4 December 2006, 11.30am to 1pm

Venue: Committee Room 12,(PLEASE NOTE ROOM CHANGE) House of Commons

This event on Balochistan, a volatile region of Pakistan is part of a series of events the Foreign Policy Centre is organising in Parliament on conflicts that receive little attention in the media or elsewhere.

Speakers include:

Ms Asma Jehangir, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Commission on Human Rights (tbc)

Mr Jaromir Kohlicek MEP, Vice-Chair, SAARC Delegation

Mr Selig Harrison, Centre for International Policy, Washington DC

Senator Tariq Azeem, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Government of Pakistan

Mr Javed Mengal, Former Senator, Balochistan National Party

Philip Fiske, Foreign Policy Centre (Chair)

Why does Balochistan matter? Balochistan crosses the states of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran and in some ways is the 'Kurdistan of Central Asia'. Balochistan is a crucial element to Britain's relations with Pakistan and the Pakistani community in the UK. Quetta, the capital of Balochistan in Pakistan is a known hideout for Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters.

The Balochi people believe they have been oppressed in many ways by the Pakistani government. Feudal systems of government, corruption and incompetence have lead to socio-economic backwardness and extreme poverty. NGOs have raised concerns of political incarceration and torture of Balochi political activists such as Rasheed Azam.

In addition, Balochistan's gas resources have received much attention from both Iran and China, keen to get a foothold in the province. These facts make a compelling case that Balochistan should be on the radar of the international community.

If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Alex Bigham by emailing alex.bigham[at]fpc.org.uk or calling 020 7729 7566.

Tuesday 27 June 2006, 6.00-8.00pm

Venue: Committee Room 16, House of Commons, SW1

The Foreign Policy Centre, in partnership with the Baluchistan Rights Movement is hosting a seminar on the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, entitled 'Baluchistan at the Crossroads'.

This will provide an introduction to this area, for both experts and non-experts alike. For those not familiar with the region, Baluchistan crosses the states of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran and in some ways is the 'Kurdistan of Central Asia'.

This seminar will cover a number of important issues: the tense relationship between the Baluch people and the central government; human rights issues; the use of natural resources; security and terrorism issues; and the activities of the Pakistan army in the region. Baluchistan is a crucial element to Britain's relations with Pakistan and the Pakistani community in the UK. Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan in Pakistan is a known hideout for Al-Qaeda operatives, including the now captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Speakers include:

Frederic Grare, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Husain Haqqani, Boston University

Senator Sana Baloch, from Baluchistan

Mr Mehran Baloch, from the Baluchistan Rights Movement

Ryszard Czarnecki MEP

Hugh Barnes, Director of Democracy and Conflict, Foreign Policy Centre (Chair)

Read the full report of the seminar here:

http://fpc.org.uk/articles/369

Places are limited, so please RSVP to alex.bigham[at]fpc.org.uk

Dr. Y.V. Reddy, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, delivered a speech on India's external sector on 23 June 2005.

Dr. Yaga Venugopal Reddy was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in September 2003. Dr. Reddy was previously India's Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund. An officer of the Indian Administrative Service 1964 batch, Dr. Reddy has spent most of his career working in the areas of finance and planning both, at State and Central level. He has held the positions of Secretary (Banking) in Ministry of Finance, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Finance in Government of India and Principal Secretary in Government of Andhra Pradesh. He was also Adviser in World Bank and is on the International Monetary Fund's panel of consultants in Fiscal Affairs.

Read India's Trade in Control: BBC Hindi.

Download Governor Reddy's speech (50 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

A breakfast seminar led by:

Dr Charan Wadhva

Former President and Chief Executive, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi

and

Zhang Jun Professor of Economics and Director, China Centre for Economic Studies, Fudan University

with Elizabeth Wright (discussant)

Founder, China Policy Institute

23 March 2005

Dr Charan Wadhva has been Research Professor since 1987 and is the Former President and Chief Executive (January 2001 to July 2004) at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a leading think tank in New Delhi, India. He has served as Professor of Economics and International Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Ahmedabad from 1970 to 1987. He also held the Reserve Bank of India Chair Professorship at that Institute. Dr. Wadhva was the first Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi. He served as a Member of the National Security Advisory Board, Government of India during 2002-03 and 2003-04. He has also been a member of the Governing Board of the South Asian Centre for Economic Policy Studies (SACEPS) based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Zhang Jun was educated at LSE and the University of Sussex. He specialises in Chinese economic development with special reference to the institutional aspects of China's economic reform. Over the past two years he has been researching the Indian economy, in comparison with China and has made a number of visits to India.

Elizabeth Wright founded the China Policy Institute in 2003. Former Director of the Great Britain- China Centre, Elizabeth also worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office including as Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Beijing (1972-75). From 1984-2003, she worked at the BBC World Service and was Head of Asia and Pacific Region for 9 years. Elizabeth has been a regular commentator on Chinese affairs both on radio and television.

Download event report (90 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

On the 3rd February the Indian Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram made a keynote speech to launch the FPC's India and Globalisation programme.

Mr. Chidambaram joined the Congress party in 1967 and has held various party positions since then.

He served as a Union Deputy Minister and later Minister of State in the Ministries of Commerce, Personnel and Home Affairs during 1985-89 and was also Rajiv Gandhi's emissary to the Tamil Nadu leadership on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.

In the government of Narasimha Rao, he served as the Minister of State, Commerce with independent charge. He served as the Minister of Finance in the United Front government from 1996 to 1998, where he was instrumental in following the economic reforms initiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh. Mr. Chidambaram is a lawyer by profession and has practiced in the Supreme Court and various High Courts in India.

During the event, the Finance Minister also launched The Foreign Policy Centre's new publication India's Emergence as a New Global Leader; an essay collection featuring four prominent intellectual scholars on India; Sunil Khilnani, Parag Khanna, Prasenjit Basu and Brahma Chellaney.

Click below to read the event report

Download the report (100 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)

India's Vision of its Future in the World

In February 2005, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) will launch a new programme of research, publications, forums and public discussions on India and globalisation. The programme aims to engage a broader group of actors with new thinking on the social and economic consequences of globalisation on India and the impact of India's growing influence on the future of globalisation. It will adopt a pan-European focus in exploring the way in which India fits into changing world order and how the new 'rising powers', notably India and China, can be key actors in shaping it.

Further information 

Download the prospectus (180 kilobyte PDF; need help viewing PDFs?)