At a time when global governance is fraying and multilateralism teeters on the edge, the 2024 Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship geopolitical platform, offered a rare window into the world’s evolving geopolitical imagination – connecting North and South, West and East, somewhat unimaginable these days.

Speaking to a packed hall, Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation which annually hosts the Raisina Dialogue, set the tone with a sharp observation: “The creators of multilateralism have given up on multilateralism.”

Co-hosted by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, the Dialogue showcased India’s balancing act – between East and West, power and principle – while reflecting deep anxieties over global disorder. The invitees to the conference represent a good litmus test of the health of India’s bilateral engagements with the world.

Americans were represented by a large delegation of foreign policy pundits and business leaders, with Tulsi Gabbard, US director of National Intelligence, providing a keynote address.

A separate QUAD panel was hosted too, signifying Indian appetite towards the multilateral concept in the face of disruptive Indo-Pacific geopolitics. There were no representatives from the Mohammad Yunis-led Bangladesh, interestingly, while a Chinese professor from Fudan University was invited, signifying the thawing of Indo-Chinese relations for the time being.

The invitation to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga was artfully balanced by an invitation to Vyacheslav Nikonov, a prominent member of Russia’s State Duma and the grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov, among other Russian experts.

Other prominent mentions include Slovenia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Moldova, Georgia, Sweden, Slovak Republic, Bhutan, Maldives, Norway, Thailand, Antigua and Barbuda, Peru, Ghana, Hungary, Mauritius and Philippines. The sessions represented a marked diversity, with due considerations given to the........

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