Rahul Gandhi to hold dialogue with former US diplomat Nicholas Burns

New Delhi, Jun 11: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Friday hold a conversation with former US diplomat Nicholas Burns on how coronavirus crisis was reshaping the world order.

The freewheeling interaction between Gandhi and Burns will cover a wide range of issues, including racism in the United States and the flashpoint created by George Floyd's killing.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the dialogue will be around reshaping of the world order in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the future of Indo-US relations and the key role played by the Indian diaspora in the US in building it.

The clash of ideologies - 'authoritarian’ China versus 'democratic’ United States and India - will also be discussed. The conversation will be released on all social media platforms of the Congress at 10 am on Friday.

Nicholas Burns is currently the Professor of Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at Harvard's John F Kennedy School of Government. At the Harvard Kennedy School, Burns is the Director of The Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair for the programs on the Middle East, India and South Asia.

During his career in the State Department, he was United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs within the United States Department of State. He was also the chief negotiator of the India-US nuclear deal.

As part of his dialogues with various experts, Gandhi has spoken to leading global economists Raghuram Rajan and Abhijit Banerjee; internationally renowned epidemiologist Johann Giesceke; global public health expert Ashish Jha and Indian industrialist Rajiv Bajaj.