Working Sessions
Session I:
International Security Environment:
Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
The return of great power competition in global politics is posing enormous challenges for
the entire world. Momentous developments in International Relations including the US-
China rivalry, an assertive Russia challenging the Western-led global economic and political order and its military operations in Ukraine are having far reaching implications
for countries around the world. These developments have led to the formation of alliances likely to exacerbate tensions with potential to disturb strategic stability.
The great power rivalry and competition and the unprecedented challenges it poses for
global economic, political, and strategic stability underscore imperatives to find ways to
avoid military confrontation and peacefully manage global competition between the US,
China and Russia and regional rivalries involving India, Pakistan, Iran, the Middle East
and North Korea.
This session will review these challenges, asses their implications and help find
mechanisms for avoidance of military confrontation through communication, Confidence
Building Measures, and conflict prevention methods to bolster strategic, political and
economic stability.
Moderator: Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani, Advisor (Foreign Policy), Centre for
Aerospace & Security Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan
Keynote Speaker: Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman, Senate Defence
Committee, Government of Pakistan.
Session II:
Geoeconomics: Driver of the Asian Century
The conventional wisdom of the 21st Century as being a decidedly ‘Asian Century’ corresponds with various tectonic shifts in the geoeconomics of the Asia-Pacific region. These shifts portend an increasing concentration of economic development and dynamism in Asia but are accompanied by strategic-level recalibrations of the world’s major geoeconomic players in ways that are, at times, complementary, but at other times, antagonistic. This GSTAR session looks at three core elements of geoeconomic concern for the Asian Century and what they might mean for Pakistan as well as for the world at large:
- Impact of great power rivalry in the Asia-Pacific,
- Geoeconomics of Asia-Pacific’s rise, and,
- How to build peaceful regional connectivity and prosperity.
Moderator: Dr Usman W Chohan, Director (Economic Affairs and National Development), Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan
Keynote Speaker: Dr Moeed W Yusuf, Former National Security Advisor, Government of Pakistan
Session III:
Emerging Technologies & Future Warfare
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has resulted in unprecedented pace of
development in innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Directed
Energy (DE), cyber, space, quantum computing and biotechnologies, among others
which affect all facets of modern life such as health, agriculture, education, businesses
and also help improve the economies. However, like all other technologies, when used
in military applications, they have the potential for unprecedented destruction and
devastation. New technologies, in addition to changing the quantum and speed of
destruction, will also impact the character and nature of this destruction during war and
create response dilemma for policy and military leadership, leading to uncertainties. With
their kinetic and non-kinetic disruptive capabilities, convergence of these technologies will
create serious challenges, necessitating better understanding of their combined effects
on nuclear thresholds and strategic stability.
Emerging technologies and their speedy acquisition by all states with huge funding has triggered an arms race, undermining stability and increasing the prospects for unintended and potentially uncontrollable escalation. While many existing technologies are not fully covered by existing laws, innovative technologies are developing at a pace faster than
nations are working to develop legal frameworks. These technologies can, therefore,
upset the existing value system and frameworks upon which the current international
social order and norms are dependent.
Moderator: Air Marshal M. Ashfaque Arain HI (M), SBt (Retd), Advisor Chief of the Air Staff on CASS Affairs and Director Technologies, Centre for Aerospace & Security
Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan
Keynote Speaker: Lieutenant General Khalid A. Kidwai, NI, HI (M) (Retd), Advisor
National Command Authority & Former Director General, Strategic Plans Division,
Government of Pakistan
Session IV:
Aerospace Security:
Determinants and Future Prospects
In contemporary times, innovative technology applications and doctrines, rather than
traditional military hardware and strategies, are shaping the modern-day battlefield. In this
technology-driven world, the duration of armed conflict between states is shrinking and
the latter are more concerned about achieving their political objectives and strategic
effects in a short span of time. Air power attributes of flexibility, ubiquity, accuracy,
destructive power, and availability on short notice make it a weapon of first choice.
While advancements in space technologies are helpful in fostering scientific progress and economic growth, integration of space-based technological developments such as real-
time Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), secure communications, early
warning etc. have transformed airpower into aerospace power giving tremendous boost
to its effectiveness. Aerospace power is, thus, having profound impact in shaping current
as well as future warfare doctrines and strategies. This session aims at analysing the
impact of emerging technologies in the aerospace domain, specifically national security
and challenges faced by technologically developed and developing nations.
Moderator: Air Commodore Dr Zia Ul Haque Shamsi, SI (M) (Retd), Director (Peace &
Conflict Studies), Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, Islamabad, Pakistan
Keynote Speaker: Air Commodore R. Shaun Clarke, ONZM (Retd), Former Director
RNZAF Air Power Development Centre & Chief of Staff for New Zealand’s Joint Forces
Command