Day 1: Saturday, November 22

09:30 – 10:30        Grand Ballroom

Inaugural Session

Speakers:

Md Touhid Hossain, Advisor, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh

Parvez Karim Abbasi, Executive Director, Centre for Governance Studies (CGS)

Syed Refaat Ahmed, Hon’ble Chief Justice of Bangladesh

Zillur Rahman, President, CGS; Chair, Bay of Bengal Conversation, Bangladesh

10:30 – 11:00

Tea/Coffee Break       Oasis

11:00 – 12:20  Grand Ballroom

Fractured Orders, Fluid Loyalties: Power Politics in the Post-Alignment Age

Unpredictable changes are taking place in the world. While new hierarchies without regulations or guarantees are emerging, old ones are silently dissolving. Formerly stable international institutions now feel worn out and uneasy, and those who built them are questioning their legitimacy. As they negotiate survival, nations shift between allies and adversaries and self-righteous certainty. Power now flows through markets, data, and emotion rather than just capital. Diplomacy in this odd new order feels more like improvisation, performed by nations that no longer believe the script, than it does like a theory.

 Speakers:

A N M Muniruzzaman, President, Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS)

Jovan Ratkovic, Senior Fellow, Agora Strategy Institute

Julia Roknifard, Senior Lecturer Taylor's University, Malaysia

Leonardo Paz Neves, Senior Researcher Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil

Marian Vidaurri, Research Associate, Cornell University, USA

David Patrician, RTL Nord, Germany (Moderator)

 2:20 - 12:30            Grand Ballroom

Speed Talk

Mahfuz Anam, Editor, The Daily Star

12:30 – 12:40  Grand Ballroom

Speed Talk

Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)

12:40 - 13:50  Grand Ballroom

Beyond Non-Alignment: The Bay as the New Middle Ground

In the past, non-alignment provided solace and a morally sound middle ground between political parties. The world is no longer there. Neutrality now requires more bravery than loyalty ever did. Once considered a backwater in world affairs, the Bay of Bengal is today burdened with conflicting visions, commercial lines, naval corridors, and digital highways. History is now flowing through the waterways of nations that previously viewed it from the sidelines. The Bay has turned into an agitated area of persuasion between Beijing, Washington, and New Delhi. Cooperation must be defined by choice rather than commitment, and its nations must learn to navigate without a harbor.

Speakers:

Joshua Alexander , Founder, Maritime Frontiers Ltd, Australia

Leo Wigger, Fellow for EU South Asia Relations, Mercator Foundation, Germany

Priyanka Bhide Mandrekar, Co- founder and Partner, Kubernein Initiative LLP, India

Yuanzhe Ren, Director and Professor, China Foreign Affairs University, China  

Dominique Rakotozafy, Former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Madagascar

Parvez Karim Abbasi, Executive Director, Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) (Moderator)

                                                                               
 13:50 – 14:00     Grand Ballroom

Ambassadorial Reflections

Michael Miller, Ambassador and Head, Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh

14:00 – 15:00                     

Lunch    Oasis                    

15:00 – 16:10    Grand Ballroom                               

Wars Without Ends: How Conflicts Outlive Ceasefires

Wars no longer come to an end; instead, they pause, reorganize, and then reappear under different guises. Instead of being a resolution, the reconciliation has evolved into an intermission. Today, sanctions, hunger, knowledge, and memory all contribute to the continuation of conflicts. Peace talks happen, but peace itself rarely occurs. As violence becomes the norm, the rest of the world looks on, tired and preoccupied. The lesson is universal: it is simpler to stop the guns than to put an end to the grievance, whether in Gaza, Kyiv, Myanmar, or forgotten frontiers. And in the absence of justice, every pause is merely the start of something new.

Speakers:

Carol Christine Fair, Professor of Security Studies, Georgetown University, USA

Carolina Chimoy, International Correspondent, Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany             

Imtiaz Gul, CEO, Center for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan 

Gregory Simons, Professor in Journalism, Daffodil International University, Bangladesh (Moderator)

Navine Murshid, Professor, North South University 

Krzysztof Zalewski, President, The Michał Boym Institute for Asian and Global Studies Foundation, Poland

 16:10 – 16:20       Grand Ballroom

Ambassadorial Reflections

Ghanshyam Bhandari, Ambassador, Nepal to the People's Republic of Bangladesh

16:20 – 17:30     Grand Ballroom                               

The De-Risking Paradox: How Safety Became the New Vulnerability

The words "safe commerce," "safe data," "safe borders," and "safe bets" are now widely used. However, countries are gradually severing the very interconnectedness that made the modern world function in an attempt to protect themselves from danger. Trust erodes, factories relocate, and every supply chain turns into a suspicious map. We grow more vulnerable the more we fortify. What started as an attempt to safeguard economies is now subtly destroying international collaboration. Ultimately, we might find that the most significant danger of all was assuming that safety would ever be completely guaranteed.

Speakers:

Farrukh Irnazarov, Co-Founder and Country Director, Central Asian Development Institute, Uzbekistan

Faris Hadrovic, Managing Director, SO.. Quantum Growth Agency, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Wu Lin, Associate Professor, China Foreign Affairs University, China  

Kerry Breen, Senior Director, Brummer & Partners 

David Morris, CEO (Tasmania), Australia China Business Council, Australia (Moderator)

Asif Saleh, Executive Director, BRAC

17:30  – 18:30                    

Tea / Coffee    Oasis

20:00 – 23:00     Grand Ballroom

Gala Dinner (By Invitation Only)

Studio Sessions

Titas

11:00 to 11:30

Empires Without Maps

conceptual hint: Power is redrawn not by conquest but by code, capital, and connectivity.

 guiding questions:

 How are informal alliances reshaping Asia’s old hierarchies of power?

Can countries like Bangladesh remain agile amid tightening regional blocs?

What replaces non-alignment in a world where neutrality no longer exists?

 Pushpan Murugiah, CEO, The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center), Malaysia

Zahid Shahab Ahmed, Associate Professor, National Defence College, Australia

Raheed Ejaz, Special Correspondent, Prothom Alo 

12:00 to 12:30

Lines of Loyalty

conceptual hint:From QUAD to BRICS+, alliances are back, but loyalty now costs more than ever.

 guiding questions:

 Are today’s coalitions built on trust or on transactional need?

How do smaller nations navigate “friendshoring” without losing autonomy?

Do values still matter in a world of shifting loyalties?

Sonia Zaman Khan, Advocate Supreme Court of Bangladesh

Kallol Bhattacherjee, Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu, India

Wu Lin, Associate Professor, China Foreign Affairs University, China  

13:00 to 13:30

The Middle Power Dilemma

conceptual hint: Caught between rivalry and restraint, mid-sized nations must choose between influence and independence.

 guiding questions:

 What defines middle-power diplomacy in an age of great-power fatigue?

Can regional cooperation offset the absence of global order?

How can Bangladesh and its neighbors punch above their strategic weight?

Mustafizur Rahman, Chief of Correspondents, New Age

Anurag Acharya, Director, Policy Entrepreneurs Inc, Nepal

Imtiaz Gul, CEO, Center for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan 

 15:00 to 15:30

When Borders Blur

conceptual hint: Maritime zones, digital domains, and refugee routes are the new frontlines of sovereignty.

guiding questions:

What happens when borders expand into cyberspace and the sea?

How does Bangladesh’s location in the Bay define its next strategic century?

Can regional diplomacy keep pace with the new geography of power?

 Salauddin Ahmed Reza, Senior Reporter, Jamuna TV

James Angelus, Founder and President, International Security Industry Council Japan (ISIC)

Joshua Alexander Brien, Founder, Maritime Frontiers Ltd, Australia

16:00 to 16:30

Peace Without Promise

conceptual hint:Ceasefires no longer end wars; they just pause them.

 guiding questions:

 Has diplomacy lost its moral and political authority?

What role can smaller states play in redefining peace processes?

Is neutrality still credible when every crisis is livestreamed?

 Hadza Min Fadhli Robby, Associate Professor/Deputy Head for the International Program, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Socio-Cultural Sciences, Islamic University of Indonesia

Touseef Mehraj Raina, Co-founder, Jammu & Kashmir Policy Institute , India

Muhammad Sazzad Hossain Siddiqui, Associate Professor & Chairman, Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Dhaka.

 17:00 to 17:30

Debt as Diplomacy

conceptual hint: Loans have become leverage, and bailouts the new battlefield.

guiding questions:

How are debt and dependency being weaponized in developing economies?

Can South Asia craft a new narrative around financial sovereignty?

What lessons can Bangladesh draw from its balancing act between lenders?

 JP Singh, Founder and Managing Director, Starker Global Solutions, India

Sardar Omar F. A Hossain, Managing Director, Al Maidha Pvt Ltd

Pramod Jaiswal, Research Director, Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement, Nepal