New Delhi: The Global Intelligence Conference will bring together some of the world’s leading spy chiefs in the Indian capital on March 16.
The conference, to be chaired by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, will be attended by US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Canada’s spy chief Daniel Rogers, and the UK’s MI6 chief Richard Moore, along with Intelligence chiefs from Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and other allied nations.
The conference is taking place at a critical time vis-à-vis geopolitical tensions with the Russia-Ukraine war lingering for three-plus years and tensions escalating in West Asia.
Also, China, Russia and Iran are conducting joint naval exercises.
The global conference will focus on intelligence-sharing strategies to combat terrorism and international crimes.
Among other issues on the agenda are terror financing and digital crimes, which is on the rise.
NSA Doval will hold one-on-one meetings with many of his counterparts, including Gabbard, who is the first high-level official from the Donald Trump administration to visit India since the latter took charge as US President for his second term on January 20.
Another crucial meeting could involve Doval and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) chief Rogers.
Bilateral ties between India and Canada hit rock bottom after September 2023 following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of ‘potential’ involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
Now that Mark Carney is set to succeed Trudeau as PM, there are hopes of improvement in bilateral ties. Doval and Rogers may well set the ball rolling for the normalisation of relations.
