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India pulls out of Indo-European meeting

PARIS:The Indian side has pulled out of a major Indo-European meeting, the Aspen Europe-India Dialogue, to be held in Paris and Lyon later this week.

A similar highly successful event was held in India in April 2008 with Ministers Kapil Sibal and Kamal Nath meeting high level delegations from India and France which included businessmen, politicians, journalists, lawyers and other professionals and decision makers.

It was hoped that the Dialogue, expected to become an annual fixture, would this year go beyond the narrow boundaries of India-French ties and bring in participants from across Europe who would tackle a wide range of issues from economics to climate change, energy, migration, protectionism or good governance.

The Indian side backed out because of a lack of clarity on the French side about the conceptual framework in which the dialogue would take place. The French participant list too was considered inadequate by the Indian side. The Indians were expecting to meet European movers and shakers from France, Italy, Spain Germany or the U.K.

Only Europeans

The only Europeans on the Aspen France list were Indians working in Europe. There were no Europeans other than a few Paris-based officials from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development). Not a single serving French minister was on the list of participants.

We do not need Aspen France in order to meet other Indians, remarked a member of the original Indian delegation headed by Tarun Das, of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Cultural misunderstanding

Aspen France has decided to go ahead with the meeting but the upshot of the official Indian delegation dropping out has been that many French luminaries as well as Indias Ambassador Ranjan Mathai will not attend. We fail to understand why the Indians decided to cancel at the last minute. I think it was a clear case of cultural misunderstanding, Mr Florent Canetti, Aspen Frances Director for Development and Fundraising told The Hindu.

Ms Kiran Pasricha, Executive Director and CEO Aspen Institute India & Deputy Director General Confederation of Indian Industry tried to downplay the incident.: Aspen France and Aspen India have a very strong relationship and we have had many good and fruitful exchanges in the past, especially a seminar held in India last April. I do not wish to get into specific details as to why it did not work this time, but there was a disconnect between Aspen France and Aspen India and that is unfortunate. What we wanted was a strategic dialogue, not a conference or seminar where people made speeches. Aspen France and Europe are both very important to India and I am sure we shall get back into a strategic dialogue format with them very soon,she told The Hindu in a telephonic interview.

Very disappointing

Christophe Jaffrelot, writer and commentator was more severe.

This development is very disappointing, after the great Aspen India/Aspen France meeting of last year in Delhi. We have not been able to stabilise a high-level dialogue between India and France that would not rely on governments. The Indo-French Forum is also dormant, incidentally. It is always the same story of asymetry: French visitors have access to top-leaders, including ministers, while Indian visitors dont - and lose interest. It leaves me wondering if French elites are conscious of what India represents in the world today."

Corrections and Clarifications

The first paragraph of a report "India pulls out of Indo-European Meeting" (March 13, 2009) had a reference to the "Aspen Europe-India Dialogue". Vaiju Naravane from Paris clarifies: "The Aspen Institute is an international non-profit organisation founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. It is dedicated to 'fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues.' The institute and its international partners seek to promote the pursuit of common ground and deeper understanding in a non-partisan and non-ideological setting through regular seminars, policy programmes, conferences, and leadership development initiatives. The institute is headquartered in Washington DC and has campuses in Aspen (Colorado, its original home) and near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay at the Wye river in Maryland. Its international network includes partner Aspen institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon (France), Tokyo, New Delhi and Bucharest, as well as leadership initiatives in the United States and in Africa, India and Central America."

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