Speakers and Moderators

We have confirmed the participation of the following notable individuals for the convention:

Political Officer Holders and Policymakers

Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister
Republic of Singapore

Ranil WickremesinghePrime Minister
Sri Lanka

Vivian Balakrishnan Minister for Foreign Affairs
Singapore

Sumita Dawra Principal Secretary to Government
Higher Education Department Andhra Pradesh,
India

S Iswaran Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry)
Singapore

Devamany S. Krishnasamy Senator and Deputy Minister for Economic Planning and Private Public Partnership
Prime Minister Office
Malaysia

Steve Leonard Chief Executive Officer
SG-Innovate
Singapore

Ravi MenonManaging Director
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
Singapore

Dnyaneshwar M Mulay Additional Secretary
CPV & Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry of External Affairs
India

Rajendran NagappanDirector
Unit for Socio-Economic Development of Indian Community and Coordinator
Prime Minister’s Department
Malaysia

P NarayanaMinister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development
Andhra Pradesh
India

Sachin Pilot Member
Indian National Congress and Former Minister of Corporate Affairs
India

Indranee Rajah Senior Minister of State for Law and Finance
Singapore

Mangala Samaraweera Minister for Foreign Affairs
Sri Lanka

Malik Samarawickrama Minister for Development Strategies & International Trade
Sri Lanka

Tharman Shanmugaratnam Deputy Prime Minister
Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies
Singapore

Ali Akbar Velayati Senior Adviser to Supreme Leader; and President,
Center for Strategic Research
Iran

Organiser – Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS)

Gopinath Pillai Chairman,
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Singapore

Subrata Mitra Director
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
Singapore

Shahid Javed Burki Former Finance Minister, Pakistan, Former Vice-President, World Bank United States of America and Visiting Senior Research Fellow Institute of South Asian Studies
National University of Singapore
Singapore

Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Former Foreign Advisor (Foreign Minister) of Bangladesh; and Principal Research Fellow,
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
Singapore

Riaz UI Hassan Director
International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding University of South Australia; and Visiting Research Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies,
National University of Singapore
Australia

Robin Bannerman Jeffrey Visiting Research Professor
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
Australia

S Narayan Visiting Senior Research Fellow
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore; and Former Economic Advisor to Prime Minister of India
India

Amitendu Palit Senior Research Fellow & Research Lead ( Trade & Economic Policy )
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
Singapore

Vinod Rai 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India; and
Visiting Senior Research Fellow,
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
India

Jivanta Schottli Visiting Research Fellow
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore
Singapore

Ronojoy Sen Senior Research Fellow
Institute of South Asian Studies,
National University of Singapore
Singapore

Duvvuri Subbarao Distinguished Visiting Fellow
Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore; and Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India
India

Businessmen

Yaseen Anwar Senior Advisor
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
Singapore

Binod Chaudhary Chairman
Cinnovation/Chaudhary Group
Nepal

Vijay Chauthaiwale In-charge
Foreign Affairs Department BJP; and Former Vice President, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd
India

Lynn Dai President,
China Telecom (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Singapore

Piyush Gupta Chief Executive Officer
DBS Group
Singapore

Venugopal Gupta Founder and Chief Executive Officer
The Business Parables
India

Muhammed Aziz KhanChairman
SUMMIT Group
Singapore/Bangladesh

Manohar Khiatani Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer
Ascendas-Singbridge Pte Ltd
Singapore

Rajiv Lall Founder, Managing Director and Chief
Executive Officer
Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC)
India

Lee Yi Shyan Board Director
Business China ( Singapore )
Singapore

Darius Lilaoonwala Co-Head IFC Global Infrastructure Fund,
IFC Asset Management Company; and Chief Investment Officer, World Bank Group
Singapore

Tony Little Group Chief Education Officer
GEMS Education
United Kingdom

Ravindran Menon Group Executive Director
ARA Group
Malaysia

B. K. Modi Founder and Chairman
Smart Dreams
Singapore

N Kumar Past President
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII); and Vice Chairman, The Sanmar Group
India

Mohandas Pai Chairman
Aarin Capital Partners and Manipal Global Education
India

Girija Pande Executive Chairman
Apex Avalon Consulting Pte Ltd; and Member, Management Board, Institute of South Asian Studies
Singapore

Pang Yee Ean Director-General, Investments
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
China

Vivek Pathak Director
International Financial Corporation (IFC)
Hong Kong

Viswa Sadasivan Board Member
Singapore International Mediation Centre; and Chief Executive Officer,
Strategic Moves
Singapore

Shahzad Nasim Group Executive Chairman
Meinhardt Group International Limited;
Singapore

Shardul Shroff Executive Chairman
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas
India

Saurabh Srivastava Co-founder and Chairman
Indian Angel Network; and former Chairman, NASSCOM
India

Roopa Unnikrishnan President
The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE New York); and Managing Director,
Center10 Consulting LLC
USA

Wang Ge Managing Partner
CAS Capital Fund
China

Wu Lebin Chairman of the Board
Chinese Academy of Science Holdings Co.
China

Academics, Political Commentators and International Organisations

Shirani Bandaranayake 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka

Jonah Blank Senior Political Scientist
RAND Corporation Santa Monica, California
USA

Pinaki Chakraborty Professor
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy
India

James Crabtree Senior Visiting Fellow,
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
Contributing Editor, The Financial Times
Singapore

Anthony P. D'Costa Chairman and Professor
Contemporary Indian Studies Austraila-India Institute,
University of Melbourne
Australia

Mohan J Dutta Head
Department of Communications and; New Media Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore
Singapore

Huang Jing Lee Foundation Professor; and Director,
Centre on Asia and Globalisation Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Singapore

Ishrat Husain Public Policy Fellow Woodrow Wilson Centre; and Chairman,
Centre of Excellence in Islamic Finance
Pakistan

Devesh KapurDirector
Center for the Advanced Study of India
University of Pennsylvania
USA

Vikram Khanna Associate Editor
The Business Times
Singapore

Habibul Khondker Professor
College of Sustainability Sciences and Humanities
Zayed University
United Arab Emirates

Lim Seok Hui Chief Executive Officer
Singapore International Arbitration Centre; and Singapore International Mediation Centre
Singapore

Kishore Mahbubani Dean
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy National University of Singapore
Singapore

Amjad Mohamed-Saleem Country Director
International Alert
Sri Lanka

Ong Keng Yong Executive Deputy Chairman, S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS); and
Ambassador-at-large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Singapore

Shyam Saran Former Foreign Secretary
India

Didar Singh Secretary General
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
India

John Solomon Assistant Professor
Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
National University of Singapore
Singapore

Rajendra Srivastava Dean
Indian School of Business
Mumbai India

Kotaro Tamura Adjunct Professor
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy; and Former Senator and Parliamentary Secretary Economic and Fiscal Policy
Japan

Tan Chorh Chuan President
National University of Singapore
Singapore

Naoyuki Yoshino Dean
Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI); and Professor Emeritus
Keio University
Japan

Information is subject to change.Updated as at 11 July 2016

  • ABOUT

    South Asian Diaspora Convention (SADC) 2016 will bring together 1000 distinguished guests and more than 50 of the region’s leading policymakers and business leaders, academics and civil society leaders.

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  • REGISTRATION

    Online Registration is now closed.

    Please proceed to Raffles City Convention Centre, Level 4 Convention Foyer for onsite registration.

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  • PROGRAMME

    The two day programme consists of plenaries, gala dinner including dialogue with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Chief Ministers’ dialogues and interactive networking sessions.

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  • SPEAKERS

    The convention will see a lively dialogue by eminent speakers, moderators and special guests.

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