Événements Canada

Organized against the backdrop of Canada’s newly-elected federal government and positive signals from India, this closed-door dialogue is designed to renew momentum in bilateral engagement by fostering thoughtful exchange across the diplomatic, policy, and business domains.

This gathering will bring together a curated group of senior stakeholders to examine shared strategic priorities and advance practical avenues of co-operation in the India-Canada economic corridor. 

APF Canada's Vice President, Research and Strategy, Vina Nadjibulla, will join the panel along with distinguished experts including Ambassador Ajay Bisaria (former High Commissioner of India to Canada) and Ambassador Nadir Patel (former High Commissioner of Canada to India), as well as special guests Marie-Louise Hannan, Director General - South Asia, Global Affairs Canada, and Chinmoy Naik, Acting High Commissioner of India to Canada.

At the March 2025 G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Canada led adoption of the G7 Maritime Security Declaration on co-operation on protecting sea lines of communication and critical subsea infrastructure. Translating those commitments into practical collaboration now requires allies and like-minded partners to share intelligence, regulatory best practices, and public-private response frameworks. Lithuania and Taiwan have emerged as frontline innovators in cable-route diversification, rapid-repair capacity, and legal attribution for grey-zone attacks. 

This closed-door dialogue will bring together perspectives from these and other critical stakeholders to identify tangible next steps for collective action and resilience. The discussion will feature, H.E. Egidijus Meilūnas, Ambassador of Lithuania to Canada, and H.E. Harry Tseng, TECO Representative in Canada, as well as other high-level officials from Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and Canada. The discussion will be moderated by APF Canada's Vice-President, Research & Strategy, Vina Nadjibulla.

This is an invitation-only event.

Canada and ASEAN elevated their relationship to a Strategic Partnership in 2022 and are currently negotiating a ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA). As Canada looks to diversify beyond the U.S. and deepen its Indo-Pacific ties, ASEAN—home to over 670 million people—is central to Canada’s long-term economic and strategic interests.

This timely discussion will explore how Canada can align more closely with the priorities of Malaysia (ASEAN Chair in 2025) and the Philippines (Chair in 2026), and how those priorities can be leveraged to advance the Strategic Partnership and ACAFTA negotiations.

This event is organized in co-ordination with the visit of two distinguished experts on Southeast Asia:

• Richard Heydarian, Senior Lecturer in International Affairs at the University of the Philippines Asian Center and Visiting Scholar at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
   
• Dr. Tricia Yeoh, Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Nottingham Malaysia and Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

To RSVP, please register through this link.

Due to limited capacity, registration will be confirmed via email by the organizing team.

Speakers:

• Richard Heydarian, University of the Philippines Asian Center; APF Canada Visiting Scholar
• Dr. Tricia Yeoh, University of Nottingham Malaysia; APF Canada Senior Fellow
• Kai Ostwald, HSBC Chair and Director, Institute of Asian Research, UBC; APF Canada Senior Fellow (Discussant)
• Vina Nadjibulla, Vice-President, Research & Strategy, APF Canada (Moderator)

We hope you can join us for this important conversation on the future of Canada–ASEAN relations.

KAS Canada, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and Canadian Institute for Arctic Security are hosting a two-day conference composed of different panels focusing on the energy sector, Indigenous communities' presence, defence sector challenges, and the Pacific view of the Arctic, with a war-gaming session in which you can observe a realistic scenario of climate risks. 

APF Canada's Vice-President Research & StrategyVina Nadjibulla will be speaking at this conference.