Join us for the Dr. Raj and Karen Aggarwal Forum on India for a discussion on the future of India as a global power.

As the global geopolitical order continues to evolve, India, soon to be the world’s third largest economy, has emerged as a critical player on the world stage. Many questions surround what India’s prominence means for the nation, the region, and the world. Western nations see India as a strategic partner well-positioned to contain the rise of China, and yet India is clearly shaping its own sense of its future. Among other ambitions, the Narendra Modi government, who referred to India with the Sanskrit name “Bharat” when hosting the G20 in September 2023, is aiming to make India an advanced economy by 2047 to mark 100 years of independence. With so much potential for internal economic growth, how does India want to project itself as a global power? Long hailed as the world’s largest democracy, in what ways will India’s domestic policies shape its geopolitical trajectory? Dr. Ajay Chhibber, a leading expert on Indian economic development, joins the Cleveland Council on World Affairs to tackle these complex questions and discuss why India is poised to reshape the world.

Dr. Ajay Chhibber is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Economic Policy, George Washington University, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He was India’s first Director General of Independent Evaluation with the status of Minister of State in 2013-2014 and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy. From 2008-2013 he served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator at the United Nations Development Programme. He served as the World Bank’s Country Director in Turkey and Vietnam and led the 1997 World Development Report on the role of the state. He has published six books on economic development and many articles in international journals and major newspapers. His latest book, co-authored with Salman Soz, Unshackling India: Hard Truths and Clear Choices for Economic Revival (Harper-Collins) was declared the Best New Book in Economics for 2022 in the Financial Times and won the India Economic Forum Literary Award for 2022. He has a PhD from Stanford University, a master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics, and has completed advanced management programs at Harvard University and INSEAD, France. He has also taught economics at Georgetown University and the University of Delhi.

Registration for this event has closed. Please contact Jacob Connell at jconnell@ccwa.org with questions.