20/6/2023 | HCSS was honoured to welcome His Excellency Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, for a working visit this week, together with a delegation including H.E. Nadzirah Osman, the Ambassador of Malaysia to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the OPCW. The visit was part of efforts to enhance the bilateral relations between Malaysia and the Netherlands.
After a word of welcome by Executive Director Paul Sinning, our Director of Political Affairs Han ten Broeke introduced some of the research programs HCSS is working on, highlighting the strategic approach of the institute, its multi-disciplinary staff, and its emphasis on data-driven analysis.
The delegation was then given a briefing by Senior Strategic Analyst Laura Birkman, Head of the HCSS Climate and Security Programme, on a range of research and activities, including ongoing work for the Water, Peace and Security partnership, its data-driven research to model climate and conflict pathways and design optimal intervention options, and a recent appraisal mission to Iraq to identify climate security hotspots and design conflict-sensitive intervention options.
Given the exposure of the Indo-Pacific to climate-related events, Laura emphasized the critical importance of the region for anticipating, managing and responding to climate change. She highlighted the leadership role of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Malaysia is a member, to address environmental risks and ensure a more secure future for the region.
Subsequently, Strategic Analyst Joris Teer discussed the HCSS Europe in the Indo-Pacific Hub highlighting Malaysia’s geographical centrality in global maritime supply chains. He outlined the risks for the world economy, if trade in critical economic inputs like critical raw materials, semiconductors and oil is disrupted, as a result of a geopolitical crisis between great powers. In line with this, Joris shared examples of stress-tests and conflict scenarios drawn up by HCSS that help governments and companies determine whether their supply chains are resilient enough.
In closing, the Minister underscored the relevance of the presented HCSS research areas for Malaysia and expressed his interest to further explore potential avenues for collaboration.
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