The Trilateral Dialogue between India, China and Germany convened under the aegis of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a unique mechanism of interaction between the three countries that seeks to take into account changing international and regional dynamics and acknowledges that both individually and together the countries can and must contribute positively to global change.

Against the backdrop of an increasingly interdependent world, the discussions sought to improve understanding between the three countries that have widely different political and economic systems. Increasingly, the success or failures of one country are beginning to affect the others, with the impact going beyond the merely economic. Increasingly, there are common regional and global challenges that confront India, China and Germany that are becoming more important than the issues that divide them.

At the 4th Trilateral Dialogue held in New Delhi in 2007, scholars and practitioners from the three countries led by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi, the China Reform Forum (CRF), Beijing and the KAS, sought to address five major issues - the state of the current Asian security environment, the situation of West Asia and its implications, the role of multilateralism and international institutions, trade and economic issues and the status of Sino-Indian relations. The results of the deliberations as brought out in this volume illustrate the concerns and interests of each country, their common challenges, and hopefully also show a way forward.