Moving on security, Gabbard and others from Five Eyes join intel tsars in Delhi

Both Gabbard and Powell will also attend the Raisina Dialogue, starting Monday. Organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs, the three-day conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who reached New Delhi Sunday, will join the inaugural session as the Chief Guest and deliver the keynote address.

Representatives from nearly 125 countries including Ministers, former Heads of State and Heads of Government, military commanders, industry captains, technology leaders, academics, journalists, scholars on strategic affairs, experts from leading think tanks will participate in the Dialogue.

The theme of the 2025 edition, the MEA said, is ‘Kalachakra – People, Peace and Planet’. Over the course of three days, decision makers and thought leaders will engage each other across conversations in various formats, over six thematic pillars: (i) Politics Interrupted: Shifting Sands and Rising Tides; (ii) Resolving the Green Trilemma: Who, Where, & How; (iii) Digital Planet: Agents, Agencies and Absences; (iv) Militant Mercantilism: Trade, Supply Chains & the Exchange Rate Addiction; (v) The Tiger’s Tale: Rewriting Development with a New Plan; and (vi) Investing in Peace: Drivers, Institutions, & Leadership.

The Sunday gathering of key players from at least three of the Five Eyes partners — it is an intelligence-sharing alliance between US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — signals the close ties in terms of security and intelligence cooperation between New Delhi and its partners.

This is especially crucial because India has hosted this conference since 2022 when the intelligence chiefs started meeting quietly on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue.

New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon, who is here on a five-day visit, will hold wide-ranging talks Monday with Prime Minister Modi.

Luxon is on his first trip to the country as Prime Minister. He is accompanied by one of the largest delegations a New Zealand Prime Minister has ever travelled with.

The visiting leader was received at the Delhi airport by Union Minister SP Singh Baghel.

“What I am looking for is just a much more comprehensive economic partnership and how we’d move that forward,” Luxon said earlier, adding, “I am determined that we are going to change the trading relationships with India big time.”

“India is an important power in the Indo-Pacific and I will discuss with Prime Minister Modi what more we can do together to maintain peace and prosperity in our region,” he said.

Luxon said travelling with a senior business delegation will help increase trade and business opportunities and promote New Zealand as an investment destination.

The delegation comprises ministers, senior business leaders, a community delegation of prominent Kiwi Indians and several parliamentarians.

Luxon will also be in Mumbai on March 19-20 before returning to Wellington.