In the month of September 2022 Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a total of four expert group andone trilateral round table with most of them being hybrid. The month saw the commencement of a new expert group on climate change in which the first discussions was on India and its policies.

The First Meeting of the Climate Change Expert Group was held on 8 September 2022 through hybrid mode. The group discussed the various ways in which climate change have manifested across India and how it affects its national security, foreign policy, geo-politics, and geo-economics respectively. The meetings also discussed the challenges and gaps in India’s climate change policies.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) will hold the 1st plenum of 20th Party Congress, the most important event in five years in which China is passing through a very difficult period with complicated economic (Chinese current economic growth rate is 3.3 per cent) and geopolitical headwinds. In addition China is facing policy missteps like President Xi Jinping’s persistence with the Zero Covid Policy and crackdown on the technology sector. The Omicron variant of Covid -19 led to phases lockdowns which have resulted in a serious economic vulnerability. The persistence of the Zero Covid policy can be attributed to it being caught in a narrative trap leading to which no easy exit may be possible domestically. To discuss these issues Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organized a virtual discussion on ‘20th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party: Context, Issues and Likely Outcomes".