Washington, Sep 19 (IANS): Dhruva Jaishankar, the son of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, has joined the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) think tank as Director of its US Initiative.

The ORF announced the appointment on its website: "Dhruva Jaishankar is Director of the US Initiative at ORF."

ORF is supported by Reliance Industries (RIL), which is one of its main funder. It was set up as an independent multi-disciplinary think tank with the support of RIL in 1990.

Dhruva Jaishankar, in his 30s, is a fellow in foreign policy studies at Brookings India in New Delhi and the Brookings Institution in Washington.

He is also a Non Resident Fellow with Lowy Institute in Australia.

He contributes regularly on strategic affairs in the media.

His research examines India's role in the international system and the effect of the global development on India's politics, economics and society, with particular focus on India's relations with the US, Europe and Indo-Pacific. He has also worked in TV news.

ORF is currently organising a conference in Washington DC in collaboration with Heritage foundation. The conference comes ahead of PM Narendra Modi's address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

A multi-party delegation would be participating in the conference, comprising of Manish Tewari of Congress, Rajiv Pratap Rudy of BJP and Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena. Some prominent policy makers and journalists will also be attending the event.

The delegation will interact with US policy makers on Indo-US relations, challenges of terrorism in the backdrop of suspension of the Afghan peace talks and the issues hampering Indo-US trade.

Prime Minister Modi is slated to address UNGA on September 27. He will also share the stage with President Donald Trump in the September 22 Houston "Howdy Modi" event with the Indian diaspora.