Abu Metha selected to participate in International Visitors Leadership Programme

29th September, 2018

Secretary General of NDPP, Mr. Abu Metha was selected by the United States Government to participate in the International Visitors Leadership Programme under the aegis of the United States Department of State. The NDPP Secretary General and founding Editor of Eastern Mirror was the only person to participate in the program from the region on a project that reflects the focus of the Trump administration, the Indo- Pacific Region.

The IVLP Program attended by Mr. Abu Metha was specifically in line with the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the US Government and it’s the first IVLP project specifically under the Indo-Pacific strategy. The project consisted of leaders from 12 countries and included programmes in the States of Maryland, Florida, Arizona, Montana, Hawaii and the District of Columbia. The programme touched the cities Washington DC, Baltimore, Miami, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Helena and Honolulu.

In the capital city of the United States, Washington DC, Mr. Abu Metha participated in a podcast interview that was aired and broadcast to a global audience. It was perhaps the first time that a leader from Nagaland got the opportunity to highlight the Nagas’ search for peach and political solution in the capital city of the world’s most powerful nation.

The interview is more significant considering the fact that it was hosted by the CSIS, a recognised and acknowledged global thinktank that is headquartered in the US Capital. Metha highlighted the need for a political solution that is democratic and the aspiration of the Nagas to live together as members of the same family. He voiced confidence that the Government of India and the Nagas would arrive at a democratic solution.

He recalled the statement of former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee who had stated at Kohima in 2003 that India acknowledges the unique history of the Nagas. In line with this approach, the Modi Government had signed the Framework Agreement and he stated that two decades was good enough time for confidence building, better understanding and appreciation of each other for a solution to be arrived at.

On being asked about the NDPP’s alliance with the BJP and the priorities of the PDA Government, Metha said that the BJP understood the pulse of the people and had a pre-poll alliance with the NDPP and that the PDA Government under Neiphiu Rio was focusing on improving infrastructure, building roads and ensuring good and transparent government.

He stated that generations of Nagas have grown up under an environment of conflict and violence and these aspects had negatively impacted lives and society. Metha stated that, the realisation of peace through a democratic solution would pave the way for a new era of development and progress. “We have a vibrant and capable younger generation who need to be given real peace and opportunities”.

The International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) is a programme under the aegis of the United States Department of State (Ministry of External Affairs). The program selects young rising leaders from around the world to undergo exchanges in the US along with exposure to America’s best practices and its principles of democracy, transparency and freedom and its structure of governance and the relationship between the federal and state governments.

Some of the world’s top leaders in all fields have participated in the IVLP in the past decades. More than 250 personalities who have attended the IVLP have gone on to become heads of states, including former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former Indian President Pratibha Patel, former British PM Tony Blair and present British PM Theresa May.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is one of the world’s leading think tanks on security, international relations and politics headquartered in Washington DC. The CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to providing strategic insights and policy solutions to help decision makers chart a course toward a better world.

Founded in 1962 by David M. Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke, CSIS is one of the world’s pre-eminent international policy institutions focused on defense and security; regional study; and transnational challenges ranging from energy and trade to global development and economic integration. For the past seven years consecutively, CSIS has been named the world’s number one think tank for international security by the University of Pennsylvania’s “Go To Think Tank Index.”

The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look to the future and anticipate change. CSIS is regularly called upon by Congress, the executive branch, and the media to explain the day’s events and offer bipartisan recommendations to improve U.S. strategy.

In late 2015, Thomas J. Pritzker was named chairman of the CSIS Board of Trustees. Mr. Pritzker succeeded former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA), who chaired the CSIS Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2015. CSIS is led by John J. Hamre, who has served as president and chief executive officer since 2000.

The podcast interview can be listened in at the following link –
https://www.cogitasia.com/cogitasia-podcast-spotlight-on-nagaland-post-insurgency/

(Issued by: NDPP Media and Communication Committee)