Melbourne Event: Prospects for the Australia-India Relationship with Ambassador Shyam Saran

India and Australia lie at the two ends of what has come to be described as the Indo-Pacific theatre. Collaborating with each other and with other major powers, the two countries have a unique opportunity to help shape the contours of the emerging economic and security architecture in the region. Both countries have a shared interest in ensuring an inclusive, open, transparent and balanced regional order which provides mutual security assurances and sustains prosperity.

This program is presented as part of the Lowy Institute at NGV series of events.  

Exhibition at NGV: Blue, Alchemy of Colour will be open for a free viewing prior to the event from 5pm - 6pm with the lecture commencing at 6:15pm. The exhibition focuses on works from the NGV Asian Art Collection and includes Persian, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese ceramics, indigo dyed textiles from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and India, and selected works from Egypt, England and Italy.

Ambassador Shyam Saran is the Lowy Institute’s 2015 Telstra Distinguished International Fellow. He was India’s foreign secretary from 2004 to 2006. He is a career diplomat who has served in Beijing, Tokyo and Geneva. He has advised the Indian Prime Minister on foreign policy and defence issues, served as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Indo-US civil nuclear issues, and as Special Envoy and Chief Negotiator on Climate Change. Ambassador Saran until recently served as Chairman of India’s National Security Advisory Board under the National Security Council. He is Chairman of the Research and Information System for Developing Countries and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, both in Delhi.

The Lowy Institute thanks Telstra for its support of the 2015 Distinguished International Fellowship.

*Image credit:

A page from a series of the Sur Sagar, c. 1730

opaque watercolour and gold paint on wasli paper

24.0 x 20.4 cm (image)

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Felton Bequest, 1980