Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura, Executive Director of ERIA, attended the Delhi Dialogue VII on 'ASEAN-India: Shaping the Post-2015 Agenda' in Delhi, India, on March 11-12. The event was organized by Ministry of External Affair of India and Institute for Defense Studies & Analysis (IDSA).

The Delhi Dialogue is an annual India-ASEAN conference of political and business leaders, academics and policy makers of ASEAN countries with their Indian counterparts to discuss ways to strengthen and broaden political, strategic, economic, and civil society interaction between India and ASEAN. ASEAN ministers and senior officials from the government participated.

Prof. Nishimura on 12 March moderated session four 'The Way Forward' on the 'Future Direction for ASEAN-India Relations' and the 'Direction for Delhi Dialogue VIII' in 2016. The session four discussion pointed out that the countries and institutions of the region must respond proactively to the changes in the security, economic, and socio-cultural as the region encompassing ASEAN and India is facing new challenges.

Prof. Nishimura concluded the session saying that 'India should be an early stakeholder in the development of the greater Yangon region and Mandalay, which will be the hub for connectivity of Northeastern India with ASEAN and Dawei as the main connectivity hub for Southeast Indian and South Asia with ASEAN, as these will bring India closer to ASEAN and help to invest in opportunities arising out of the completion of the ASEAN Economic Community.'

The panelists included: Mr. Brigadier Rumel Dahiya, Deputy Director General of IDSA; Ambassador Rajiv K. Bhatia, Director General of Indian Council of World Affairs; Ambassador Gopinath Pillai, Chairman of Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore; Tan Sri Rastam Mohammad Isa, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia; U Nyunt Maung Shein, Chairman of Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies; and Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn, senior fellow of ISIS Thailand and senior communication advisor of ERIA.