Singapore to host South Asian Diaspora Convention
The South Asian Diaspora Convention, first of its kind, will begin on July 21 in Singapore to bring together intellectuals, business leaders and policymakers to celebrate the success of the diaspora spread worldwide.
The Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), an autonomous research organisation under the National University of Singapore, will organise the three-day event at Resorts World Sentosa in the city state also to discuss some of the pressing needs South Asians face today.
The purpose of the hallmark conference is to focus on the varied issues confronted by the large South Asian Diaspora, numbering over 20 million across continents, said organisers.
They say Singapore is an established commercial and business hub of the world and also rapidly emerging as a centre of excellence on intellectual issues. The idea is to bring together the key and significant representatives of South Asian extracts in Singapore from different parts of the world to interact with one another.
Speakers will comprise successful achievers in different fields such as industry, academia, media and literature. The discussions are likely to result in productive outcome in various spheres.
Top Singapore leaders such as elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew, President SR Nathan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong will attend the event on the first day.
The speakers include Richard Armitage, former deputy secretary of state, USA, Dr HAN Seung Soo, former prime minister of South Korea, Shahid Javed Burki, former finance minister of Pakistan, Minoru Makihara, senior corporate advisor of Mitsubishi Corporation, Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of DBS Group Holdings Ltd & DBS Bank Ltd, Singapore, Sohel F Rahman, chairman of Beximco Ltd, Bangladesh, and Dr Tahmima Anam, a Bangladeshi writer and novelist.
The gathering is expected to provide opportunities for networking for the purposes of trade and commerce as well. This is particularly so given the fact that many South Asians have been successful business achievers in different host communities.
Ambassador Gopinath Pillai, also the chairman of ISAS, told The Daily Star yesterday: “It is being held against the backdrop of rise of Asia. This is also the first time a South Asian Diaspora comprising representatives of all South Asian countries is being brought together under one umbrella.”
“I am delighted that renowned young Bangladeshi English author Tahmima Anam is one of the speakers at the event. She symbolises the success of the younger generation of South Asian Diaspora,” he said in an email.
Pillai also said serving as a business hub, Singapore would provide the delegates a conducive and congenial environment to network and discuss topics of mutual interest.
The project is an exercise in translating into reality a proposal by the city-state's president Nathan, for “linking the diaspora” of the sub-continent for meaningful interactions.
The ISAS is also keen to utilise the planned convention to position Singapore as the springboard for global linkages among these people.
The convention would be opened to the captains of trade and industry, academics, and the general public from India and other South Asian countries. This would correspond to Singapore's perspective of the South Asian diaspora as a highly inclusive group of people.
As cricket and the South Asian diaspora go together, efforts are on to arrange a T20 match as part of the inaugural convention, which could feature regular players from several South Asian countries.
Over 20 top international and local business celebrities will share their experiences at the convention to make it a world-class conference.
Moderators include Prof Kishore Mahbubani, dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore; Tommy Koh, ambassador-at-large of the ministry of foreign affairs in Singapore; Girija Pande, chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, Asia Pacific, and Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, senior research fellow of ISAS and a former caretaker government adviser of Bangladesh.
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