Navigating India’s Global Rise – Virtual Program

This is a virtual program. Instructions on how to join this meeting will be sent the day before the event.

The relationship between the United States and India, the world's oldest and largest democracies, continues to deepen. But even though overall strategic alignment has grown in the past 20 years, particularly in the face of a rising and assertive China, the relationship remains complicated. India guards its strategic autonomy and maintains close relations with US adversaries like Iran and Russia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's consolidation of power has challenged Indian civil society and led to new restrictions on media and internet freedoms. On everything from the future of the digital economy to maritime security to trade, New Delhi and Washington need one another even as they navigate fundamental policy differences. Five consecutive US administrations have supported India's rise, and that trend is likely to continue as concerns grow about peace and stability in this vital region. Join the World Affairs Council on April 14 for a discussion with USIP's Vikram Singh on the U.S. partnership with a rapidly changing India and what the means for the future of the Indo-Pacific region.

About the Speaker
Vikram J. Singh is senior advisor to the Asia Program at USIP. Singh has been a leader of innovation in public policy and global affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of State, and major non-profits. He advises USIP on all aspects of peace and stability in Asia including Afghanistan and Pakistan, Myanmar, China’s role in the region, and North Korea.

From 2014 to 2017 Singh was vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, where he established CAP’s Asia program and launched work on nuclear security, a major task force on U.S – India relations, and a program on defending the internet as a force for democracy.

As deputy assistant secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia from 2012 to 2014, Singh ran negotiations to deepen U.S. defense cooperation in the region including through new access agreements with Australia, the Philippines, and Singapore. Singh was Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Department of State until 2011. He developed a political-military strategy for reconciliation efforts to end the war. He represented the United States with China, India, Russia, Middle Eastern partners, the U.N., and NATO members on political, military and economic issues related to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Singh was the first defense fellow at the Center for a New American Security in 2007. He was previously the Pentagon’s first director for partnership strategy, developing and securing passage by Congress of new legal authorities for global defense cooperation. As a Presidential Management Fellow, Singh also served at U.S. Mission to the United Nations and chaired the DoD missile technology working group for the “Next Steps in the Strategic Partnership” with India.

Singh received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service in 2012 and the Department of State Superior Honor Award in 2006 and 2012. He is a Fellow of Columbia University and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University.

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