The month of February 2022 at Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) was filled with meetings and dialogues. In the month VIF organized four expert group interactions, and three dialogues with Russia (Russian International Affairs Council), Japan (Japan Institute for National Fundamentals) and ‘Quad Plus’ through webinars in the month. All these interactions and dialogues covered a wide spectrum of topics as well as geography across the world. The selection of topics are contemporary and of interest to academia, policy makers, decision makers and the general public.

… Biden said that President Vladimir Putin “has never seen sanctions like the ones I promised will be imposed if he moves”... “If they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine, and that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe costs and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy…” as of end February 2022, all these conjectures had been thrown in the wind. The invasion is underway. Times are extremely critical and the attention of the whole world will be on Ukraine …

The Vivekananda International Foundation organized a joint webinar with the Japan Institute of National Fundamentals (JINF) on 10 February 2022 on Strategic Outlook for Indo-Pacific in 2022. After initial remarks by Dr Arvind Gupta, Director VIF and Ms Yoshiko Sakurai, President JINF, presentations were made by Amb Anil Wadhwa, Distinguished Fellow VIF and Hiroshi Yuasa, Senior Fellow JINF. The webinar discussed a range of issues from shaping a new regional security architecture to engaging ASEAN and analyzing ramifications of China’s military rise and Ukraine standoff on the region.

On 23rd February 2022, the Vivekananda Foundation organised a lecture on "The African Continental Free Trade Area and Opportunities for India". The Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) is a critical African project to accelerate the continent's long-term integration and economic goal. The CFTA represents an immense opportunity to address Africa's economic vulnerabilities in the global economic order, manifested and exacerbated by WTO and other multilateral and bilateral trade agreements imbalances.