Invitation | GIGA Talk „Competing Connectivity Strategies: Infrastructure Politics in Asia and Beyond“ | 8 November, Berlin

upon the request of GIGA-Institute I would like to inform you about the following event:

Competing Connectivity Strategies: Infrastructure Politics in Asia and Beyond
(Lectures and Discussion)
Date: Thursday, November 8, 2018, 6 pm
Location: GIGA Berlin Office, Friedrichstraße 206 (Entrance Zimmerstraße), 10969 Berlin

The global economic centre of gravity is shifting towards Asia. China, India, and Japan are all competing for influence. They follow different strategies to closer interconnect Asian countries as well as the region as a whole with the world at large via networks of transportation and through energy projects. China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” has captured the headlines as the most comprehensive and ambitious plan linking Asia and Europe. Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy”foresees infrastructure investments from South-East Asia to East Africa. India’s “Act East” policy seeks closer relations with South-East Asia via infrastructure investments.

Where do these different connectivity strategies converge? Where will they result in conflicts, where in cooperation? How will these projects be financed? Against the background of prevailing geopolitical tensions, the GIGA Talk will discuss Chinese, Indian, and Japanese motivations and major projects within Asia and beyond and investigate the implications of them for Europe and for Germany itself.

Speakers:
Dr. Sreeradha Datta, Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi
Dr. Margot Schüller, Associate at the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies
Dr. Christian Wirth, Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies

Commentary:
Friedolin Strack, Managing Director and Coordinator Germany, Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business

Alexander Schönfelder, Director for Technology Policy, Trade-, Finance- and Sanctions Policy and Investment Promotion at the German Federal Foreign Office

Moderation:
Dr. Johannes Plagemann, Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies and Speaker of the Research Team “Ideas and Agency”

Please confirm your attendance by sending an e-mail to registration
More information is available on the GIGA website: link
or by sending an email to Dr. Margot Schüller email

Best regards,

Tatjana Wonneberg