U.S. Consulate General Kolkata & CUTS International Set to Host ‘Defense News Conclave’

The U.S. Consulate General Kolkata and CUTS International invite to attend and cover the “Defense News Conclave – Stories on U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership” on Friday, August 4, 2023, at Hotel Peerless Inn, Kolkata from 9.30am-2 p.m.

Under the Defense News Conclave Project, supported by the U.S. Consulate General Kolkata and the U.S. State Department, CUTS International is organizing five workshops covering consular districts of the U.S. Consulate Generals. They aim to create a group of informed stakeholders in India for strengthening U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership by generating necessary awareness of diverse media professionals and other relevant stakeholders.

Each workshop will be over two sessions focusing on good practices of U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership in general and its relevance for U.S.-India Strategic Partnership in the Indo-Pacific region in particular. Among others, they will look at the milestones set and achieved, and policies and gaps to be filled-in to secure a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Objectives of Defense News Conclave

• Act as a capacity-building initiative for media professionals and other relevant stakeholders
• Facilitate meaningful dialogues between experts and participants for better understanding of relevance and nuances of U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership for the ‘good’ of the world in general and the Indo-Pacific region in particular
• Develop a better understanding of good practices in joint development of advanced defense-related technologies for promoting a positive narrative on U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership, especially in the context of evolving geopolitical, including geo-strategic and geo-economic, developments in the Indo-Pacific region

Outcomes

• A sustained platform for free-flowing interaction on issues related to U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership
• More and better information about good practices on U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership – joint production possibilities of equipment and materials, opportunities and challenges for various sectors involved, and overall enhanced capacity to report and write on related issues

Agenda of Defense News Conclave

Over the years, India’s designation as a Major Defense Partner of the U.S., signing of foundational defense-related agreements and large number of joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region have taken the U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership to new heights.

The shift in geopolitical attention to the Indo-Pacific region and associated geo-strategic and geo-economic developments such as the coming together of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. into a Quad, the initiation of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, has made this Partnership even more robust. This is underlined in the Joint Statement from the United States and India following the Official State Visit of the Indian Prime Minister to the U.S. in June, 2023.

Future status of this Partnership will be a deciding factor in shaping security dynamics in the world in general and the Indo-Pacific region in particular. Therefore, it is time to highlight that, among other deliverables, U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership is to secure a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. This will ensure a better exposition of ‘deliverables to deliveries’ on U.S.-India Defence and Security Partnership. 

09:15-09:45 Registration & Networking with Tea/Coffee

09:45-10:00 Opening

• Bipul Chattopadhyay, Executive Director, CUTS International

10:00-10:15 Keynote Address

• Representative, Office of U.S. Defense Attaché to India

10:15-10:30 Networking with Tea/Coffee

10:30-12:00 Significance of U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership

• U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership through joint production, transfer of technology, etc. including maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region
• Evolution of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, India’s SAGAR Policy, etc.  
• Success stories of joint military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operation) facilities; intelligence sharing, including interoperability in the Indo-Pacific region

Chair & Moderator: Lieutenant General Subrata Saha, Former Member of the National Security Advisory Board and Deputy Chief of Army Staff

Panelists 

• Shekhar Dutt, Former Governor of Chhattisgarh and Defense Secretary
• Professor Chintamani Mahapatra, Founder and Honorary Chairman of Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies
• Manu Pubby, Senior Editor, Economic Times
• Arun Ramchandani, Executive Vice President, L&T Defence
• Representative, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd*

12:00-13:30 Recent Initiatives on U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership

• The role of public-private partnership in joint defense-industrial cooperation, including technology transfer for advanced weapons production
• Assessment of strategic trade and technology partnership, including the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, India-U.S. Strategic Trade Partnership
• The success story of FE414 jet engine, P-81 Poseidon, etc.
• Why and how to detect and counter mis/disinformation on U.S.-India Defense and Security Partnership – A case study

Chair & Moderator: Indranil Banerjie, Senior Analyst and Freelance Journalist

Panelists

• Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Former Chief of Air Staff and President, CENERS-K
• Partha Roy Chowdhury, Commercial Lead, Lockheed Martin India
• Col. Baljinder Singh (Retd.), Director, Aerospace and Defence, USISPF, India Office
• Sucharita Bhattacharjee, Deputy Head, CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre and Policy Analyst, CUTS International

13:30-14:00 Closing

• Adrian Pratt, Director of the American Center Kolkata, and Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Kolkata                                                   
• Arnab Ganguly, Head, CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre and Associate Director, CUTS International

14:00 Networking with Lunch