New Delhi, Mar 6: The eleventh edition of the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, was inaugurated on Thursday evening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb.
Opening the proceedings, Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), emphasised that over the past eleven years, the Dialogue has remained committed to “unpacking the present to help shape the future.” He added that the 2026 theme, Samskara, reflects a world where “nations are asserting their identity, asserting their dialogue, and advancing through refinement.”
Sunjoy Joshi, ORF Chairman, highlighted that while current conflicts are rooted in old impulses, technological advancements have intensified their impact. He said addressing these challenges will require new coalitions, innovative intellectual frameworks, and forward-looking governance models.
In his keynote address, President Stubb drew attention to the complementarities between India and Finland, noting that Finland has been rated as the “happiest country in the world” for nearly a decade, while India is recognised as “the most optimistic country.” He stressed that the global order of the future should build on the happiness and optimism both nations bring to international discourse.
President Stubb further asserted that the “era of a Western-dominated world is over,” with the Global South now wielding both demographic and economic influence. Advocating for multilateralism that reflects today’s realities, he proposed a reformed United Nations Security Council with two permanent seats each for Asia and Africa, and one for Latin America. He unequivocally stated that India deserves a permanent seat at the Security Council.
Acknowledging India’s domestic and global initiatives, President Stubb praised Prime Minister Modi’s efforts to expand the use of Artificial Intelligence for citizen welfare and societal transformation.
Delivering the vote of thanks, Dr S Jaishankar, complimented the Dialogue’s “openness, diversity, energy, and atmosphere,” and expressed confidence that the platform would continue to foster discussions on “new capabilities, new mindsets, and new habits and assumptions.”
Day one of the Dialogue also featured Curtain Raiser sessions with prominent international voices, including Christopher Landau, Deputy Secretary of State, USA; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark; Benedetta Berti, Secretary General of NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Italy; Rishi Bal, CEO, BharatGen, India; Sakshi Gupta, Policy Expert, Qualcomm, USA; Erik Solheim, former Minister of Climate and Environment, Norway; and Amitabh Kant, former G20 Sherpa, India.
All open-door sessions of the Raisina Dialogue are being live-streamed on the official Raisina Dialogue Twitter handle (@raisinadialogue) and ORF’s YouTube and Facebook channels.
Hosted jointly by the Observer Research Foundation and India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the Raisina Dialogue has, over its past ten editions, emerged as India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, shaping global public policy discourse worldwide.
