Strategic Dialogue on South Asia Conference

The third “Allies conference” on South Asia was held at the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales in Paris on 29 and 30 June 2006. It followed two earlier conferences, held at Brookings in Washington DC in 2003 and 2005. This meeting brought together South Asian experts and concerned government officials—participating in their private capacity—from nine countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The conference explored two major issue-areas. The first was South Asia’s setting in the wider world, including China’s role, and sources of tension from South Asia’s periphery. The second set of issues took a global perspective, in which nuclear and economic factors were examined, as were the policies of the US, Europe and the EU-India partnership, and Japan’s South Asia policies. These talks were off-the-record and private, allowing for frank discussion. They clarified regional policies and trends, as well as the approaches to South Asia of major non-regional powers.

This report summarizes the conference proceedings and notes some major conclusions that emerged from the discussions. Part I presents the conference program and the list of participants. Part II sets forth the major policy-related conclusions reached at the meeting. Part III is a more detailed, analytical summary of the discussion itself.

The conference was organized with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Policy Planning Department (Centre d’Analyses et de Prévisions, CAP) and the Secretariat-General of National Defense (Secrétariat Général de la Défense Nationale, SGDN). The project was also funded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Brookings Institution. We also wish to acknowledge additional support from individuals and governments who made it possible for participants to attend.