Join us for our second year as we continue to highlight voices from island nations and examine the impact of issues like climate change, maritime security, and resilient infrastructure on the geopolitical landscape in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Key leaders from island nations, global scholars, and high-level security experts will gather to discuss how nations pursue their interests and respond to resulting security challenges in today’s increasingly complex world.
Agenda
Sunday, September 18, 2022
1:00–2:15 p.m.
Registration
2:15-2:25 p.m.
Opening Remarks
- Evan A. Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Atsushi Sunami, President, Sasakawa Peace Foundation
- Yoko Kamikawa, Member of House of Representatives, Japan
2:25–2:45 p.m.
Ministerial Conversation: Africa in the Indian Ocean
Policy discussions on Africa often focus on challenges within the continent, but Africa’s eastern coast and islands in the Indian Ocean have a significant impact on trade, security, and climate policy in the Indo-Pacific. How do African islands such as Madagascar view the Indo-Pacific, and what are the concerns and priorities in the western Indian Ocean? How does the continent's link to the Indo-Pacific shape geopolitics in the larger arena?
- EvavRajaonarison, Chief of Staff, Minstry of Foreign Affairs, Madagascar (on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madagascar)
- Moderator: Zainab Usman, Senior Fellow and Director, Africa Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
2:45–3:45 p.m.
Geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific: An Island Perspective
The Indo-Pacific is the new geopolitical theater. This expansive region has become the stage for today’s most critical geopolitical maneuvering of the world’s great powers. What is the island perspective on the geopolitical developments in the Indo-Pacific? How do island nations in these two oceans navigate the complex geopolitics, and what are island priorities in this new strategic geography?
- Satyendra Prasad, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations
- Nilanthi Samaranayake, Director of Strategy and Policy Analysis Program, Center for Naval Analyses
- Moderator: Darshana M. Baruah, Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
3:45–4:00 p.m.
Coffee Break
4:00–4:45 p.m.
Keynote address: Abdulla Shahid
President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maldives
5:00 p.m.
Opening Reception
Monday, September 19, 2022
8:00–9:00 a.m.
Registration
9:00-9:45 a.m.
Keynote address: Siaosi Sovaleni
Prime Minister, Kingdom of Tonga
- Moderator: Evan A. Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
9:45–10:45 a.m.
Climate and Maritime Security
Climate change is one of the most pressing security concerns in the Indo-Pacific: the crisis not only threatens island nations’ stability, but also their very existence. Is there consensus among islands and bigger neighbors on climate change as a security threat? How do the differences in security conceptions affect collaboration and the approach to climate change and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific?
- Odo Tevi, Ambassador & Permanent Representative of Vanuatu to the United Nations
- Anna Powles, Senior Lecturer, Massey University, New Zealand
- Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, Associate Professor, University of Hawaiʻi
- Moderator: Darshana M. Baruah, Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
10.45–11.15 a.m.
Coffee Break
11:15 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Fireside Chat—Developments in the Pacific: A View from Australia
- Paul Myler, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Australia
12:00–1:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30–1:40 p.m.
Japan’s Engagement with the Pacific Islands
Hideyuki Shiozawa, Senior Program Officer, Pacific Island Nations Program Team, Sasakawa Peace Foundation
1:45–2:30 p.m.
Special Address: Gustav Aitaro
Foreign Minister, Republic of Palau
Moderator: Hideyuki Shiozawa, Senior Program Officer, Pacific Island Nations Program Team, Sasakawa Peace Foundation
2:30–3:15 p.m.
Accessibility to Climate and Development Finance
While climate change is a global problem, island nations in the Indo-Pacific face an especially urgent threat from global rising temperatures. Multinational, national, and regional initiatives have offered climate finance and sustainable development solutions to island nations—but these offers come with challenges that result in unmet needs. Though there are various initiatives offering climate and development finance, is it accessible by island nations in the Indo-Pacific? What are the regulatory frameworks that challenge accessibility to climate and development finance and how can island nations address them?
- Angelique Pouponneau, Policy Advisor, Alliance of Small Island States
- Hiroyuki Suzuki, Chief Representative, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Washington Office
- Moderator: Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum, President, East-West Center
3:15–3:30 p.m.
Coffee Break
3:30 p.m.–4:15 p.m.
Closing Plenary: U.S. View on Islands in the Indo-Pacific
- Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President, Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific for the U.S. National Security Council
4:15 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
Closing Remarks
- Darshana M. Baruah, Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Hideyuki Shiozawa, Senior Program Officer, Pacific Island Nations Program Team, Sasakawa Peace Foundation
4:30 p.m.
Closing Reception
Featuring
Abdulla Shahid
Abdulla Shahid is a seasoned diplomat with a long and distinguished career serving in both the government and legislature of Maldives and is currently serving as the foreign minister of Maldives for the second time. In 2021, he was elected as the president of the seventy-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. As a strong advocate for gender equality, he is credited with achieving gender parity among the country’s diplomatic heads of mission for the first time, as well as in the country’s foreign service.Richard J. Randriamandrato
Richard J. Randriamandrato is the minister of foreign affairs of Madagascar. He has over twenty-five years of experience in international development, politics, and cooperation, serving as an international development advisor for the United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.Tarcisius Kabutaulaka
Tarcisius Kabutaulaka is an associate professor in the Department of Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. His research and publications focus on land and economic development, geopolitics, regionalism, governance, natural resources and economic development, conflicts, post-conflict rehabilitation/peacebuilding, international intervention, and political developments in Oceania.Satyendra Prasad
Satyendra Prasad is Fiji’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York and Fiji’s nonresident high commissioner to Canada. Ambassador Prasad served as Fiji’s representative as chair of the Pacific Islands Forum (from July 2021–August 2022) and advised Pacific governments on climate and ocean issues both within UN processes and in other multilateral settings such as the World Bank and the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.Nilanthi Samaranayake
Nilanthi Samaranayake is director of the Strategy and Policy Analysis Program at CNA. Samaranayake studies small states in international affairs, U.S. alliances and partnerships, and Indian Ocean regional security. Her analysis has been published in Newsweek, East Asia Forum, Defense One, Lawfare, and Asian Security, among other outlets.Angelique Pouponneau
Angelique Pouponneau is a policy advisor on ocean and climate matters to the chair of the Alliance of Small Island States. She serves on the advisor board of the UN Ocean Decade and as an alternate board member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Adaption Fund. She was previously the chief executive officer of the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust.Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum
Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum took office as president of the East-West Center in January 2022. Vares-Lum brings executive leadership and planning experience spanning the past several decades, culminating in five years serving with and advising the most senior officials at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where she cultivated and maintained key relationships with nations throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Vares-Lum serves on the board of the American Red Cross Pacific Islands Region, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, and the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research.Atsushi Sunami
Atsushi Sunami is the president of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He is also director of the SciREX Center and executive advisor to the president at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) and guest professor at the Research Organization for Nano & Life Innovation at Waseda University.Yōko Kamikawa
Yōko Kamikawa is a Japanese politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives. She previously served as Japan’s minister of justice and minister of state for gender equality and social affairs in the cabinets of Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda.Evan A. Feigenbaum
Evan A. Feigenbaum is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research in Washington, Beijing, and New Delhi on a dynamic region encompassing both East Asia and South Asia. He previously served as the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for south and central Asia and a member of the Department of State’s policy planning staff with principal responsibility for East Asia and the Pacific.Zainab Usman
Zainab Usman is a senior fellow and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Her fields of expertise include institutions, economic policy, energy policy, and emerging economies in Africa.Odo Tevi
Odo Tevi is Vanuatu’s permanent representative to the United Nations and ambassador to the United States. Apart from this role, Ambassador Tevi also served in the executive boards of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund, and United Nations Office for Project Services. From 2003 to 2013, Odo was the governor of the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu and Vanuatu’s alternate governor to the International Monetary Fund.Hiroyuki Suzuki
Hiroyuki Suzuki is chief representative of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation’s (JBIC) Washington office. Since 2020, Suzuki has also been a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Japan Desk. Suzuki has an expertise on international development finance globally, especially in the area of infrastructure, energy, and climate change.Darshana M. Baruah
Darshana M. Baruah is a fellow with the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where she leads the Indian Ocean Initiative. Her primary research focuses on maritime security in Asia and the role of the Indian Navy in a new security architecture.Siasosi Sovaleni
Siasosi Sovaleni was sworn in as the 18th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga in November 2021. Siaosi Sovaleni previously served as a member of Tonga’s Legislative Assembly, Minister of Environment and Communication, and Minister of Education and Training.Anna Powles
Anna Powles is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research and publications focus on geopolitics, security and conflict in the Pacific Islands region, including alliance dynamics, security cooperation and governance, Pacific statecraft practices, and climate security.Hideyuki Shiozawa
Hideyuki Shiozawa is a senior program officer in the Pacific Island Nations Program at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He has been involved in development cooperation and dialogues in the Pacific Island countries on the ground under the Japanese Government or the SPF since 2003.Kurt M. Campbell
Kurt M. Campbell serves as Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific on the National Security Council. He previously served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.