SHoDH JNU organized a highly interactive talk session on, “Changing contours of multilateralism: Challenges and Opportunities”. The main speaker was Hiroyuki Ito, a Project Manager for Green City Action Plan, EBRD (European Bank for Resconstruction and Development). The session was chaired by Professor Shrabani Roy Choudhary, a faculty member at the Centre for East Asian Studies, SIS, JNU.
Mr. Ito discussed in detail the functioning of EBRD and the close-door politics fundamental to multilateral institutions. The talk focused more on the contemporary issues facing humankind, such as climate change, Urban planning, environmental planning, and sustainability concerning the functioning of regional organizations and non-state actors. He emphasized on the fact that how the cooperative arrangement between civil society, the private sector, and State, in general, is essential for tackling contemporary global issues facing humankind. Regarding EBRD, he shared with the audience the internal perspectives, mostly not mentioned in mainstream academia and media. Therefore, his talk gave the student an idea about how with the help of monetary support, developed countries influenced the financing of multilateral arrangements and how developed nations have the upper hand over the policies and decisions of the international institutions. However, at the same time, the expansionary vision of EBRD to the third-world countries, especially in infrastructural development areas, mitigating impacts of climate change and migration in particular, has been effectively dealt with EBRD.
He said, “As the world is becoming multilateral, we need to innovate a more democratic and fair system. India has an important role to play given its democratic outlook and its large economy.”
At the event, the national convenor of SHoDH, Shashank Tiwari, Delhi Convenor lf SHoDH, Prashant Shahi, JNU’s faculty from the School of Disaster Management, Abhijeet Dwivedi were present. The session show a rich participation from various departments of the University. The audience took a huge interest in the discussion and participated in the question session with productive curiosity.