- 18 May 2022
Middle East Institute Annual Conference 2022
About the Annual Conference
Our theme for this year’s conference, The Middle East: A New Arena for Asian Competition? will examine the implications of China and India’s contest in the region. China’s trade investments in the Middle East, a key node of its BRI project, have eroded India’s traditional advantage of proximity to the region. Beijing has also extended its influence over traditional Indian partners such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. In response, India is taking its own steps to address this competition, hewing closer to the US as a key part of Washington’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, and forming a mini-Quad comprising America, India, Israel, and the UAE. Will these moves make the Middle East a new theatre for the US-China rivalry?
These broad geopolitical currents are playing out against a backdrop of profound shifts in how the Gulf, in particular, conceives of religion and society as it attempts to reform their economies to place them on a more sustainable basis. As these changes interact with major power competition, they will have important repercussions for South and Southeast Asia.
Day 1 of the conference was conducted online via Zoom on Wednesday, 18 May 2022, from 3 pm to 6.00 pm (SGT).
Day 2 of the conference was conducted online via Zoom on Thursday, 19 May 2022, from 6.45 pm to 8.30 pm (SGT).
Please click HERE for programme details.
Event Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels
Day 1 (Wednesday, 18 May 2022)
Opening Speech
Mr Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security, Singapore
To watch the opening speech, click here.
Panel 1 Topic: The Geopolitical Competition
Moderator: Dr Jean-Loup Samaan, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
Panel Members:
- Mr Drew Thompson, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
- Ms Sun Yun, Senior Fellow, Director of the China Programme and Co-Director of the East Asia Program, Stimson Centre
- Ambassador Shivshankar Menon, Visiting Professor and Chair of Ashoka Centre for China Studies, Ashoka University; Former National Security Advisor and Foreign Secretary of India
To watch the first panel, click here.
Panel 2 Topic: The Impact on Trade
Moderator: Dr Clemens Chay, Research Fellow, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
Panel Members:
- Dr Nasser Saidi, Founder and President, Nasser Saidi & Associates; Former Chief Economist, Dubai International Financial Centre
- Professor S. K. Mohanty, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, India
- Professor Xiao Geng, Director of Institute of Policy and Practice, Shenzhen Finance Institute;
Professor of Practice, Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)
To watch the second panel, click here.
Day 2 (Thursday, 19 May 2022)
Keynote Speech: What the Future Holds
Mr K. Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Law
To watch the keynote speech, click here.
Panel 3 Topic: The Abraham Accords, and its Implications for ASEAN
Moderator: Ms Michelle Teo, Executive Director, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
Panel Members:
- Ambassador Yuval Rotem, Former Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel
- Professor Harsh V. Pant, Professor at King’s College London & Vice President, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
- Dr Martin S. Indyk, Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
To watch the third panel, click here.
About the Speakers
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security
Mr K Shanmugam
Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law
Mr Teo Chee Hean was appointed Senior Minister on 1 May 2019. He also serves, since 21 May 2011, as Coordinating Minister for National Security. He also oversees the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group, the National Security Coordination Secretariat, the National Population and Talent Division and the National Climate Change Secretariat under the Prime Minister’s Office.
Mr K. Shanmugam was admitted to the Singapore Bar as an advocate and solicitor in 1985 and went into private practice. He became one of the senior partners and head of litigation and dispute resolution at Allen & Gledhill LLP. In 1998, he was appointed a senior counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore at the age of 38, one of the youngest lawyers to be so appointed.
Mr Shanmugam had a successful practice and was consistently recognised in international publications as one of the top litigation, arbitration and insolvency counsel in Asia and Singapore. He has also acted for senior government leaders in Singapore.
Prior to accepting public office, Mr Shanmugam served in various committees and boards, including the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law; the Raffles Institution Board of Governors; the Media Development Authority and Sembawang Corporation Industries Ltd (a company listed on the Singapore Exchange). He was also president of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) from 2002 to 2009.
In 2008, he was appointed a cabinet minister. He is now the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Law.
