Webinar Link

Meeting No: 2517 732 6468
Password: defence

Certificate of Participants

To recieve certificates, please register and attend

Abstract

The Mecca Pact represents an important effort toward promoting peace, reconciliation, and cooperation in the Muslim world and beyond. By bringing together diverse perspectives, the webinar aims to evaluate the opportunities, challenges, and long-term prospects of the Pact in strengthening unity, stability, and peaceful coexistence.

Short Bio

Dr. Arvind Virmani

Arvind Virmani is Chairman of the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW). He was member of NIti Aayog and President of the Forum For Strategic Initiatives (FSI, Delhi). He has been a Mentor (economic policy) to FICCI & a member of RBI Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary policy. He was earlier Executive Director, IMF and Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance and Principal Advisor, Planning Commission. During his tenure he advised on a host of economic policy reforms, through 100s of policy papers, notes and committees. He has served as Member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and as Director & Chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He has published 35 journal articles and 20 book chapters and written over 50 other working papers in the areas of Macroeconomics, growth and finance, tax reform, International trade & Tariffs, International relations, and national security strategy.

Lt. Gen. R.S. Reen (R.)

Lt. Gen. R.S. Reen (Retd.) is a distinguished Indian Army officer, notably serving as the Director General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) in the Ministry of Defence, focusing on defence indigenization and export, and previously holding high command/staff roles like Deputy Chief of Army Staff (IS&T) and commanding various formations, an alumnus of NDA and Royal College of Defence Studies, known for expertise in Quality Assurance, Six Sigma, and Defence Management. He has done certification in Reliability Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur and is Qualified Lead Auditor in Quality Management System & Integrated Management System from Bureau Veritas, Bengaluru.

Amb. Sharat Sabharwal

Amb. Sharat Sabharwal is Former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan. Mr Sharat Sabharwal joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1975. After serving in various positions in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva and the Indian Missions in Madagascar, France and Mauritius, he was Director/Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi from 1990 to 1995. The positions held by him subsequently have been Deputy High Commissioner of India in Pakistan (1995-99), Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN in Geneva (1999-2002), Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan (2002-2005) and Additional Secretary/Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (September 2005-March 2009). Mr. Sabharwal was High Commissioner of India to Pakistan from April 2009 to June 2013. He was appointed Central Information Commissioner in November, 2013 and served in this position till September, 2017. Mr. Sabharwal has been Deputy leader/member of the Indian delegations to the UN General Assembly, the erstwhile UN Commission on Human Rights, International Labour Conference and World Health Assembly. He was also the Deputy Leader of the Indian delegation to the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent held in Geneva in October 1999 and member of the Indian delegation to the World Conference against Racism, held in Durban in September 2001. Mr. Sabharwal holds a post graduate degree in Political Science.

Dr. Alvite Ningthoujam

Dr. Alvite Ningthoujam is an Assistant Professor at the Symbiosis School of International Studies (SSIS) Symbiosis International (Deemed University) Pune, Maharashtra. Prior to this, he served as a Consultant (Strategic Affairs) at the National Security Council Secretariat, Prime Ministers Office in New Delhi from July 2017 to July 2019. Before that, he was a Senior Research Associate at Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), New Delhi, where he focused on issues pertaining to the Middle East and trends and developments in International Terrorism, particularly focusing on the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) or Daesh, and its footprints in India, South Asia and Southeast Asia. In 2010-2011, he also served as a Fellow at the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. He holds PhD from the Centre for West Asian Studies School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi. His research interests include Israel’s military exports, Israeli foreign policy and its relations with Southeast and East Asian countries, Indo-Israeli relations, India’s ties with Middle Eastern countries and Sino-Middle Eastern cooperation. Dr. Alvite Singh Ningthoujam is also currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the Middle East Institute, New Delhi.