2022/11/29
The Indo-Pacific has become the centre stage of a shifting global balance of power, with far-reaching implications for the European and global economy and security. Rising to this challenge, the EU has a produced a strategy for the Indo-Pacific and NATO has adjusted its strategic approach to the region. Yet, with burning security concerns at its doorstep, many questions about Europe’s role and effective engagement in the Indo-Pacific remain. How to respond to Sino-American competition while promoting its own interests in the region? What are the best channels, partners and cooperative structures to engage with? How can the EU comprehensively leverage its economic, technological and diplomatic clout? And how do Indo-Pacific countries respond to Europe’s growing regional ambitions?
The Brussels Indo-Pacific Forum* aims to provide a unique platform for experts and policymakers to discuss Europe’s role in the Indo-Pacific and bring the Indo-Pacific security debate to the European capital. In light of the evolving debate inside and outside Europe, the inaugural edition of the Forum will put the spotlight on the EU’s tightening relations with like-minded regional partners, explore the trends and possible contribution to the security and defence, and delve into the prospects for technological and economic cooperation.
The Forum is convened by the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) of the Brussels School of Governance (BSoG), which has established itself as a leading reference for informing academic and policy debates on the Indo-Pacific in Brussels through its Korea Chair and Japan Chair. In this year’s edition of the Forum, CSDS will partner with the European Union (EU) on the basis of the Indo-Pacific Futures Platform (INFORM), a two-year project supported by the EU that seeks to develop a common reflection on future challenges impacting the region. Its main deliverable is the publication of two studies on security and digitalisation trends respectively in the Indo-Pacific. The discussions to be held at the Forum will feed into the reports, which will be published at the end of the year. Furthermore, CSDS will use the opportunity to announce the establishment of a Japan Chair, bearing witness to the significant political, economic and strategic rapprochement between the two like-minded partners and setting the scene for closer and more substantive cooperation in the years to come.
13:30 – 15:00 INFORM Public Panel – Security and Defence Trends in the Indo-Pacific by 2030
Moderator
Daniel Fiott, Head of the Defence and Statecraft Programme, Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS)
Speakers
Alison Weston, Head of Division for Partnerships, EEAS
Céline Pajon, Senior Fellow, Japan Chair, CSDS and Head of Japan Research, IFRI (French Institute of International Relations)
Jagannath Panda, Head of the Stockholm Center for South Asian and Indo- Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA)
Yuichi Hosoya, Professor of International Politics, Keio University
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