Jun 04, 2008

Mr. Prakhar Sharma (Head of Research), Mr. Halimullah Kousary (Jebsen Fellow), Mr. Kamran Sartor (Research Analyst) and Mr. Saifullah Ahmadzai (Research Analyst) participated in Regional Network of Strategic Studies Center (RNSSC) conference on 19-22 May 2008, in Istanbul, Turkey.

The RNSSC is intended to expand the strategic interaction among institutions throughout the region in response to regional suggestions for more avenues of dialogue and cooperation in meeting security challenges. It promotes strategic thinking at the regional level by disseminating collaboratively developed research, thinking and publications throughout the region. The goal of the meeting is to provide a platform for Network participants to discuss ongoing research and collaboration, plan future collaborations and publications, especially within the working groups and welcome new centers into the network.

The RNSSC meeting was divided into four working groups and several plenary sessions in which various issues were discussed; the public opinion in the middle-east on democracy and governance, the SriLankan case of countering the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Ealam (LTTE), and Climate Change and its impact on Bangladesh.

The Working Groups were divided into four themes: Counter Terrorism (CT); Democracy and Governance; Non-Traditional Security (NTS); and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Border Security. Mr. Sharma, Mr. Kousary, Mr. Sartor, and Mr. Ahmadzai actively participated in the WMD, CT, Democracy & Governance, and NTS working groups respectively. All of them volunteered on researching on the topics to be presented in the next RNSSC meeting tentatively planned for November 2008.