SINGAPORE: Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL, the first Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords, spent four busy days in Singapore from 6 to 9 October for the 13th Milken Institute Asia Summit, where he spoke on India’s rising role in Asia, chaired a philanthropy roundtable, and held a string of high-level meetings, including an audience with the President of Singapore at the Istana.
The Summit
The Milken Institute Asia Summit ran from 7 to 9 October at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore and brought together more than 1,500 global leaders under the theme Leading with Intelligence. According to the Milken Institute, the 13th edition explored “how technology, information, and human judgment can address the defining economic, geopolitical, demographic, and environmental challenges facing Asia and the world,” across programme tracks on business, finance, philanthropy and health, with a dedicated track on AI innovation, investment and sovereignty. Lord Bilimoria, a Senior Fellow of the Institute, spoke at the India Roundtable on India’s rising role in Asia and the global economy.
He also hosted and chaired the Summit’s Philanthropy Roundtable, which brought together some of Asia’s most prominent philanthropists and was widely regarded as one of the most outcome-driven sessions of the Summit.
Dinner at Raffles with the US-India Business Council
Alongside the Summit, Lord Bilimoria co-hosted a dinner for the US-India Business Council at the Raffles Hotel with Ambassador Atul Keshap, President of the Council at the US Chamber of Commerce, and His Excellency Dr Shilpak Ambule, High Commissioner of India to Singapore. Senior business leaders from across the region attended. Ambassador Keshap, a former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, has led the US-India Business Council since January 2022.
Grand Prix hospitality
Lord Bilimoria met His Excellency Nikesh Mehta, British High Commissioner to Singapore, for a one-on-one meeting. The High Commissioner later hosted Lord Bilimoria and a group of special guests on a VIP tour of the Formula 1 pit lane and track ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, then welcomed them to his Grand Prix reception at Eden Hall, his official residence. Guests included Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve and F1 presenter Ruth Buscombe, a former Ferrari and Sauber race strategist. The Grand Prix weekend went on to draw 301,294 fans, the second-highest attendance on record, according to The Straits Times.
At the Istana
On 9 October, Lord Bilimoria was received at the Istana by the President of Singapore, His Excellency Tharman Shanmugaratnam. The two have known each other for more than two decades. The meeting followed a high-level lunch Lord Bilimoria hosted for the President in the UK Parliament in June.
Trade, philanthropy and business ties
Lord Bilimoria also met Martin Kent, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific, and discussed how to take the UK–Singapore relationship beyond trade and services into a broader strategic partnership. On the sidelines of the Summit, he met His Excellency Badr Jafar, the UAE’s Special Envoy for Business and Philanthropy, who holds ministerial rank and is also the CEO of Crescent Enterprises, as well as Anindya Bakrie of Indonesia’s Bakrie Group and other senior business leaders.
In his words
“Once again, I have been so impressed by Singapore,” Lord Bilimoria said. “It is an amazingly successful country and economy, and a model of social cohesion and dynamism that the world can learn from. The Milken Institute Asia Summit shows what is possible when capital, policy and philanthropy come together with real purpose. There is so much potential for the UK and Singapore to build an even closer relationship, and I am confident it will go from strength to strength.”
A Parsi voice on the world stage
For readers of Parsi Khabar, the trip is the latest chapter in Lord Bilimoria’s role as an ambassador for the community far beyond it. Last year he co-hosted with the Lord Mayor of London the first dinner ever held at Mansion House for the Zoroastrian Parsi community, with a feast prepared by chef Cyrus Todiwala. Reflecting on the evening, he wrote: “Our community is tiny, one of the smallest minority communities in the world: fewer than 5,000 in the UK and about 100,000 worldwide. Yet our impact is anything but small.” (Parsi Khabar)
Lord Bilimoria is a crossbench member of the House of Lords, founder of Cobra Beer, and Chairman of ICC United Kingdom. Born in Hyderabad into a Parsi family from Bilimora in Gujarat, he was created Baron Bilimoria in 2006, served as Chancellor of the University of Birmingham from 2014 to 2024, and was President of the Confederation of British Industry from 2020 to 2022.
Sources: Milken Institute Asia Summit 2026 | Nikesh Mehta, GOV.UK | Atul Keshap, Wikipedia | Badr Jafar, Wikipedia | Ruth Buscombe, Wikipedia | 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, Wikipedia (citing The Straits Times) | Karan Bilimoria, Wikipedia | Parsi Khabar: Lord Karan Bilimoria on the Mansion House dinner