Vice President (VP) Venkaiah Naidu virtually addressed the 19th Meeting of the Governing Council & chaired the 20th Meeting of the Governing Body of Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). He is the Ex-Officio President of the ICWA.
- The 19th meeting of the Governing Council of ICWA took place from Hyderabad, Telangana.
- The meeting was attended by the Three Vice-Presidents of ICWA Council – Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, PP Chaudhary, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs & Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.
Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA)
Established in 1943, ICWA was India’s 1st Independent International Affairs think tank. While the Vice President of India is its Ex-Officio President, the Minister of External Affairs is its Vice President.
- In 2001, it was declared as an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament.
Key Takeaways from the Address
i.VP launched a book titled ‘Sapru House: A Story of Institutions Building in World Affairs’ authored by Dr TCA Raghavan, Director General of ICWA and Dr. Vivek Mishra, Research Fellow at ICWA.
ii.MEA & ICWA are working closely on issues like maritime affairs, India-Pacific Oceans Initiative, Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), India’s non-permanent member of the UN Security Council 2021-22, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, India-Japan-Russia Cooperation in the Far East.
iii.He also highlighted the decisions of the concerned ICWA Committees to set up a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Study Centre and a Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP) Coordination Centre within the Council to boost ICWA’s work related to multilateral forums.
iv.ICWA Committees have also set up an ‘ICWA Archives Unit’ to catalogue and conserve historical and archival records.
v.VP commended ICWA for commissioning a short monograph (a specialist work of writing or exhibition on a single subject) on India’s bilateral relations with Bangladesh.
Vijay Thakur Singh appointed as next DG of ICWA
Former Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Vijay Thakur Singh was appointed as the next Director General of ICWA. The term of Dr. TCA Raghavan is set to come to an end on 23 July 2021.
- The ICWA Act of 2001 read with the Amendment Act of 2003 prescribes a 3-year term for the DG and ex-officio Member Secretary of ICWA and the procedure for the appointment of the new DG.
Recent Related News:
On 17th November 2020, Indian School of Business (ISB), signed an MoU with ICWA to enable collaborative research in the areas of international relations and to promote cooperation between India and global partners on various issues.
About Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA)
Director General – TCA Raghavan
Ex Officio President of the Council – Vice President of India (Venkaiah Naidu)
Head Office – New Delhi
