KISS Deemed to be University (KISS-DU), India signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute of Security and Development Policy (ISDP), Sweden on 10th August 2022.
Professor Deepak Kumar Behera, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of KISS-DU, spoke about the provisions of the MoU in his welcome speech, welcoming the proposed thinktank on security policies and underlining the urgency of such initiatives for the enrichment of KISS-DU scholars and faculty members. Prof. Nicklas Swanstrom and Prof. Jagannath Panda from ISDP seconded him and thanked Dr. Iswar Ch. Naik, who took a lead in putting the collaboration together.
As a part of the MoU signed between both the institutions, a talk was also organized on the topic: ‘Security Situation in the Indo-Pacific: Why India and Europe Need Greater Partnership’
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Niklas Swanstrom, Executive Director, Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) said that the major democracies in the world such as European countries and India must develop credible organizations and structures offering alternatives to China. India and Europe can offer potentially offer credible trade and investments to states practicing democracy, putting together a new international block promoting democracy. He added that India, Europe and Japan can offer alternative supply chain security since India enjoys the advantage of a cheap labour force and can eventually emerge as a global hub for outsourcing.
Professor Jagannath Panda, Head of the Stockholm Centre for South Asian and Indo-Pacific Affairs (SCSA-IPA) and Editor too called for a credible international partnership in the Indo-Pacific, emphasizing that the European Union can offer a string partnership to meet supply chain challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. Calling for Odisha to be more strongly integrated with the global economy and security policymaking, he lauded the recent initiatives of the Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik in that direction, calling for more academic dialogues, seminars, and concrete projects. He said Odisha can be a bridge in Indo Pacific region for its location in Bay of Bengal and given its pro-development politics All that is required for more research and publication on security issues and human rights, focusing on marginalized communities, where KISS-DU has already made impressive progress.
Professor Jugal Kishore Mishra, Director Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in his remarks placed the deliberations in perspective and Dr. Anirban Bandyopadhyay in his interactions with Professor Swanstrom on the prospects of such an innovative partnership based on democracy and human rights.
Dr. Prashanta Kumar Routray, the Registrar of KISS-DU, in his vote of thanks noted his pleasure at the potential convergence of thinking and action embedded in the collaboration. He said it was only befitting that KISS-DU, given its track record of successfully merging ideas with action in the domain of development as envisaged by the Founder Prof. Achyuta Samanta, Hon’ble Founder KISS and KIIT would be the home of such an exciting international collaboration in the future. He concluded with an invitation to an ISDP delegation to visit KISS-DU to put together the institutional architecture and undertake some activities for the proposed collaboration.
