Dhaka Global Dialogue

The Dhaka Global Dialogue was held in 2019 as a pivotal platform to catalyse conversations around one of the most vital and dynamic political and economic geographies of the contemporary world. The two-and-a-half-day dialogue looked at both the emerging regional and global political order and the associated institutional frameworks. Convening over 150 delegates from over 50 countries to join the brightest minds in Bangladesh, the Dhaka Global Dialogue was a platform designed to discuss, ideate and debate the most pressing global imperatives. The Dialogue has brought together diverse voices across sectors and geographies as it seeks to discover new ideas and propose solutions that serve an emerging human-centric world order in the Indo-Pacific. 

The forum facilitated deep discussions, ideation, and debates focused on emerging regional and global political orders and the institutional frameworks required to support them. The core objective was to explore and promote a human-first growth and development paradigm, seeking innovative ideas and actionable solutions that could underpin a human-centric world order emerging from the Indo-Pacific. The multifarious angles of the Indo-Pacific regime and its geo-politics, however, were the dominant theme of the exercise, taking up as many as six panel discussions.

Placed in the Indo-Pacific region — already central to global responses on critical fronts — the dialogue addressed two major unfolding processes. First, it recognised the urgent need for a collective reimagining of human development, environmental stewardship, and shared prosperity, viewing the Indo-Pacific as a potential birthplace of new alignments between nature and humanity, and as a space where inclusive economic pathways for billions could be forged. Second, the forum examined the fragility and contestation within existing global governance structures, noting how the Indo-Pacific’s emerging institutions and arrangements remained nascent amidst the unfolding Asian Century.

The dialogue acknowledged the pressing need to identify and establish new rules, actors, and regulatory frameworks within the region alongside global partners. Issues of major geo-political importance like the US-India-Japan backed Indo-Pacific Strategy and the China sponsored Belt-Road Initiative, and their broader implications were discussed at length among politicians and diplomats, as were issues that present clear and imminent danger like climate change, violent extremism, hate crimes and migration. Social issues like health, the importance of renewable energy, the opportunities and challenges of a digital world also found prominent space. Discussions on the role of culture and commerce in the clothing industry added to the diversity of discourse. Women's role in politics and policymaking was deliberated extensively with participants from diverse parts of the world like Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Argentina and Brazil, among others.