The Asia Economic Dialogue (AED) is the flagship geoeconomics conference of the Ministry
of External Affairs (MEA), India. The AED 2021 is jointly convened by the MEA and Pune
International Centre (PIC). This is the fifth edition of the AED, and the second one organised
by PIC. The theme for this year’s conference is “Post Covid-19 Global Trade and Finance
Dynamics”. Under this theme, the discussions will focus on the pandemic’s impact on trade
and finance, on the world and on Asia in particular, as well as strategies to deal with this
impact.
In the words of Ambassador Gautam Bambawale, former Ambassador of India to China,
Pakistan, and Bhutan, and convenor of AED 2021, “The Asia Economic Dialogue is a
geoeconomics conference supported by India’s Ministry of External Affairs. This edition will
discuss how the world recovers from the economic aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic
including how global supply chains may be re-aligned.”
The AED 2021 will be held over three days, from Friday, 26 th February 2021 to Sunday, 28 th
February 2021. AED 2021 is being held virtually due to continuing uncertainty on account of
Covid-19 and attendant issues such as difficulty in travel, and need for social distancing. This
conference is a major international event, featuring high level participation from foreign ministers from various countries, senior bureaucrats, industry leaders, and global trade and financial experts.