CSDS is launching as of January 2023 the "Bridging Allies initiative", a track 1.5 platform that seeks to generate ideas to strengthen practical cooperation between key security alliances in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. It focuses particularly on NATO, for the European component, and the U.S.-Japan, U.S-Australia and U.S.-ROK alliances on the Indo-Pacific realm. CSDS conducts this initiative in close collaboration with academics and think tank partners in the United States, Japan, Australia, France, the Republic of Korea and Canada.
The CSDS Bridging Allies initiative comprises different streams, and is supported through a variety of funding schemes, namely:
-A project supported by NATO’s Science for Peace and Security (SPS) programme. This project examines key security trends in the Indo-Pacific region, and analyse their possible impact for NATO. It is led by CSDS in cooperation with the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) in Toyo, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), and CERI at Sciences-Po Paris.
-A project supported by the Australian Department of Defence under the Strategic Policy Grants Program (SPGP). This project aims at bringing together practitioners and experts from Europe and the Indo-Pacific to offer recommendations on how to strengthen links between NATO and U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific. This project is led by CSDS in cooperation with the U.S. Studies Centre of the University of Sydney (USSC) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., who is joining as an associate partner.
Both projects last two years and comprise a variety of experts' workshops and public conferences to be held in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo, Canberra/Sidney and Washington D.C. Stay tuned for the next developments by checking the CSDS website and Twitter account.
