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Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has praised the depth of dialogue and discussion at the recently held Raisina Dialogue in India.
"I'm back from the Raisina Dialogue and Synergia Conclave in Delhi. I am again impressed by the intellectual depth and the frank views exchanged in both forums, but it was shocking to hear a comment made by US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. He said the US won't repeat the trade mistakes it made with China 20 years ago with India. To me, this implies the US is suggesting that it won't allow India to prosper and lift so many millions of people out of poverty," he said. The comment referred to remarks attributed to Landau during discussions on trade and strategic economic relations. Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue Landau had said, "India should understand that we're not going to make the same mistakes with India that we made with China 20 years ago in terms of saying, Oh, you know, we're going to let you, be able to develop all these markets,' and then the next thing we know, you're beating us in a lot of commercial things. We're going to make sure that whatever we do, it's fair to our people. Because ultimately, we have to be accountable to our own people, just as the government of India has to be accountable to its people." Addressing common misconceptions about the administration's stance, he noted, "America First obviously does not mean America alone, because one of the ways that you can accomplish those objectives is through cooperation with other countries." Landau further explained that the administration views national interest as a shared principle among sovereign states. "So just as President Trump wants to make America great again, he would expect the Prime Minister of India or other leaders to want to make their countries great again," the Deputy Secretary of State remarked at the session. The Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, is jointly organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs. Since its launch in 2016, the forum has grown into one of the world's prominent multilateral gatherings, attracting heads of state, ministers, diplomats, scholars and business leaders from across the globe. The annual conference focuses on critical global issues such as economic security, emerging technologies, climate change, multilateral cooperation and strategic competition. Discussions often highlight the evolving balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and the shifting dynamics between major economies, including the United States, China and India. (ANI)
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