Details

Monday, 4th July 2011

9.45 Registration and Coffee

10.00 Opening Session

Introductory Remarks

Dr. Gerhard Wahlers

Deputy Secretary General

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin

10.15 Assessment of the Status Quo: Major obstacles to regional cooperation and initiatives to overcome them

What are the major obstacles to regional cooperation in South Asia? What are the underlying reasons for poor neighbourhood relations? In this respect, what did SAARC achieve so far? etc.

Statement

Major General Dipankar Banerjee (Retd.)

Director

Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), New Delhi

Comment

Salma Malik

Assistant Professor

Institute for Defense Studies (DSS), Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad

Klaus-Jürgen Hedrich

State Secretary (Retd.) and Member of the Bundestag (Retd.)

Uelzen

Chair

Dr. Gerhard Wahlers

Deputy Secretary General

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin

11.15 Coffee break

11.45 Democratic Deficiencies, Political Instability and Intrastate Conflicts as Threats to National and Regional Stability: A sphere of action for SAARC?

Should SAARC serve as a platform for input to democratic development, respect for human rights, peaceful conflict regulation etc.? How to reduce the governance gap and improve stability in the region? What about the idea of implementing a human rights mechanism for SAARC? etc.

Statement

Nishchal Pandey

Director

Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS), Kathmandu

Comment

Prof. Amar Jayawardane

Executive Director

Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo

Dr. habil Christian Wagner

Head of Research Division Asia

German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin

Chair

Tomislav Delinic

Director Regional Program SAARC

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, New Delhi

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Islamist Terrorist Movements as a Threat to National Security and Regional Stability: Common grounds for regional security cooperation?

What are the implications of the spread of Islamist terrorist movements in the region? How to engage Pakistan effectively in combating Islamist terrorist groups on its soil? How to engage Pakistan and India in a common dialogue on Afghanistan? What role does Kashmir play in this regard? etc.

Statement

Dr. Simbal Khan

Director Afghanistan & Central Asia

Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Islamabad

Comment

Dr. Jochen Hippler

Research Fellow

University of Duisburg

Col. (GS) Rainer Meyer zum Felde

Head of Security Policy and Strategy Department

German Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Hamburg

Chair

Dr. Gunter Mulack

Former German Ambassador to Pakistan

Executive Director of the German Orient-Institute, Berlin

16.00 Coffee break

16.30 Scarcity of Energy and Resources as a Threat to National Prosperity and Regional Development: Common grounds for regional resource cooperation?

How to overcome the region’s energy crisis? What future role for common pipeline policies/strategies? How to deal with water conflicts in the region? etc.

Statement

Tashi Choden

Senior Researcher

Centre for Bhutan Studies (CBS), Thimphu

Comment

Colonel AKM Nazrul Islam

Research Director

Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Dhaka

Prof. Dr. Friedbert Pflüger

Director European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS)

King’s College, London

Chair

Dr. Beatrice Gorawantschy

Country Representative to India

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, New Delhi

Tuesday, 5th July 2011

9.45 Registration and Coffee

10.00 Poverty, Social Inequalities and Barriers to Economic Growth as Obstacles to National and Regional Prosperity and Development: Common grounds for fostering transit trade agreements and broader economic reforms?

What are the major barriers to economic growth in the region? How to implement transit trade reforms? How to make the South Asian free trade zone work? Could social market economy serve as a model for South Asia? etc.

Statement

Dr. Nisha Taneja

Professor

Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi

Comment

Dr. Rajan Malaviya

Director

Institute for Economic and Policy Consultancy, Frankfurt

Mario Sander v. Torklus

Advisor for Development Policy and North-South Questions

German Federal Chancellery, Berlin

Chair

Susanna Vogt

Coordinator International Economic Policy

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin

12.00 Lunch

13.00 Climate Change and Environmental Degradation as Threats to National and Regional Stability: Common grounds for regional cooperation on crisis response and early warning systems?

What chances for disaster management cooperation? Did last year’s floods in Pakistan provide an input to foster regional cooperation on common crisis management and early warning mechanisms? Does South Asia risk climate induced conflicts? etc.

Statement

Major General Muniruzzaman, ndc, psc (Retd)

President and CEO

Bangladesh Institute for Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), Dhaka

Comment

Dr. Jürgen Bischoff

Senior Advisor

Adelphi, Berlin

Kerstin Faehrmann

Head of Division Emergency and transitional aid

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Berlin

Chair

Dr. Philipp Rock

Designated Country Representative to Afghanistan

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin

14.45 Coffee break

15.00 Review of Conference Findings, Discussion and Concluding Remarks

Chair

Dr. Stefan Friedrich

Head of Team Asia and Pacific

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin

End of Conference