The East and the West shall ever meet !

 

SCMS-COCHIN had the proud privilege of hosting an international conference of great significance on very crucial issues like the bilateral and trilateral relations among India, China and the U.S. at a very appropriate time. The fast growing two Asian giants are sure to become engines of global growth and reform. In all possibility, these two Asian nations will, in the near future, assume a position capable of reshaping the world order and redefining the world geo-political map, shifting the balance of power more favorably toward Asia.

 

This is the first time that some of the world renowned strategic experts from highly reputed institutions of the world like Harvard University, Georgia Tech University, Mercer University, all of USA, Tsinghua University, China and Hebrew University of Jerusalem of Israel have come together for a dialogue with Indian thought leaders on the crucial economic and political issues confronting the world, particularly the East and the West. SCMS-COCHIN had the good fortune of becoming the venue for this great event.

 

Perhaps, it is for the first time that strategic experts from the world’s only super power representing the West had a dialogue with the academicians and strategic experts of the fast-emerging economies of the East.

 

It is unfair to underrate India and China.  In fact, fifteen years ago, no one imagined that India would emerge as a country to be reckoned with in the global economic front. So is the case with China, which was more isolated than India in the global dialogue on technology or economy. Both of them had a glorious past. Their decline started after the 15^th century. At the same time, the western society registered remarkable progress and reached such a level that they could subjugate the other nations to establish their supremacy. For almost throughout the twentieth century the U.S. had been leading the world as an economic and military super power.

 

Celebrated writer Mark Twain thought that the decline of the East was forever. So in one of his wrings he said, “East is East, West is West. Never the two shall meet.” Incredible as it may seem, SCMS-COCHIN had the good fortune of making East and West meet and that too for a new initiative in the form of an intellectual dialogue for analyzing the future shape of equations among the super power of the West and the emerging superpowers.

 

Knowing each other is a tough task. Yet we all will have to do so if we are to live in peace on this beautiful planet infested with all sorts of conflicts. Only by sharing our thoughts, knowledge, skills and the vast resources available in nature, can we enrich the life of all and move forward to prosperity.

 

The new initiative was just the beginning. The consensus after parleys was to continue the dialogue.

 

SCMS-COCHIN is indebted to Dr.Subramanian Swamy, Chairman of its Board of Governors and Chairman of the global NGO, the Centre for National Renaissance, New Delhi, for organizing this international meet at our campus.

 

                                                                                              Dr.G.P.C.Nayar

                                                                                             Chairman, SCMS Group