Key Highlights
- Three‑day summit in New Delhi unites heads of state, senior officials, scholars and industry leaders.
- 2026’s overarching motif, “Samskara – Assertion, Accommodation, Advancement,” captures the interplay of sovereignty, coalition‑building and technology‑driven progress.
- Six thematic tracks explore contested borders, stewardship of global commons, the UN’s 2030 agenda, climate urgency, digital futures and resilient trade.
- Key dignitaries include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, with speakers from over 100 nations.
Detailed Insights
The Raisina Dialogue, inaugurated in 2016 by the Observer Research Foundation in cooperation with India’s Ministry of External Affairs, has matured into a pre‑eminent platform for geopolitics and geo‑economics in the Indo‑Pacific region. The 2026 edition adopts the Sanskrit‑derived concept of “Samskara,” signifying a civilization’s capacity to reaffirm identity, accommodate diversity, and evolve through continual refinement.
Three interlocking currents define the conference’s discourse:
- Assertion – Nations are reasserting control over territories, digital spectra and future economic pathways.
- Accommodation – Traditional multilateral mechanisms give way to flexible, plurilateral coalitions that can address cross‑cutting challenges.
- Advancement – Emerging technologies and innovative governance models are extending influence into historically underserved regions.
The agenda clusters into six pillars:
- Contested Frontiers: power shifts, emerging conflict zones and security recalibration.
- Repairing the Commons: governance of oceans, cyberspace and supply networks.
- White Whale – Agenda 2030: assessment of progress toward Sustainable Development Goals.
- The Eleventh Hour: climate imperatives and their geopolitical reverberations.
- Tomorrowland: AI, digital regulation and nascent tech ecosystems.
- Trade in the Time of Tariffs: strengthening supply‑chain resilience and re‑imagining trade frameworks.
Four macro‑level conversations dominate the dialogue: the United States redefining its global posture, China confronting economic imbalances, the evolving US‑China strategic balance, and the role of other great and small powers in sculpting a steadier world order.