Category: Economy

On Thursday, on the second and last day of OPEC+ meetings, the top sources suggest it is doubtful that the group would vote soon to continue pumping barrels into the market after August.

OPEC+ increased its monthly output target for July and August from 432,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 648,000 bpd at its most recent meeting in early June. An advisory Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee will meet at 1100 GMT, followed by a full OPEC+ meeting.

Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch issued a report stating, “Confirmation of this is likely to be more formality today. What is more important is what will happen next”. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus allies such as Russia form OPEC+.

Following months of Western pressure on OPEC+, Washington welcomed the decision by producers in June. Following sanctions imposed by the West on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine that began on Feb. 24, “special military operations,” Moscow called the invasion “a special military operation”.

Five OPEC+ delegates said Thursday’s meeting would focus on confirming output policies for August rather than discussing September.

According to two more OPEC+ delegates, the issue of production after August could emerge, but it is unclear what steps can be taken.

On Sunday, India and Bangladesh explored their cooperation in their partnership to develop areas of Artificial intelligence, Cyber Security, startups, and Fintech. They further aim to expand their ties in the railway sector along with cross-border river management and conservation.

India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met with his Bangladeshi counterpart AK Abdul Momen at the 7th Joint Consultative Commission meeting where the decision was taken.

Mr. Jaishankar said that the nations are looking forward to working together and taking ties to new domains in AI, cyber security, and startups. He further added that they are pleased to receive ICT Minister and had a good visit by the railway minister recently. The nations will focus on expanding their cooperation on the up-gradation of their railway system.

As part of this commitment to climate action, the management of their 54 rivers and their conservation, and their shared environmental responsibilities, particularly around the Sundarbans, will be the key focus of the nations to tackle together.

During the discussions, border management was also on the agenda as a key item. In order to keep the border safe, the nation’s Border Guarding Forces will continue to work together to combat trans-border crimes.

In a quest to look for an alternative source of energy, the European Union signed an agreement with Egypt and Israel. The trilateral Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Wednesday with the aim to export natural gas to European nations.

The deal was signed in Cairo in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It will help reduce the bloc’s energy dependence on Russian supplies and will aim to build infrastructure among the three parties.

During a joint briefing, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “What a special moment, fit for renewable-the energy of the future”. Meanwhile, the EU issued a statement saying, “Natural gas from Israel, Egypt, and other sources in the Eastern Mediterranean region will be shipped to Europe via Egpyt’s LNG (liquid natural gas) export infrastructure.

The EU would do this to meet its “long-term decarbonization objectives” and do so via market-related prices. In return, Egypt and Israel would increase their gas production and exploration in their respective territorial waters.

Around 40 percent of the EU’s gas was imported from Russia last year. In response to the invasion of Ukraine, the EU began seeking alternative sources of energy.

A report by US online education company Coursera stated that The UAE has been ranked first internationally in terms of the business skills of its workforce

The Emirates also scores high and leads in business skills such as entrepreneurship, strategy and operations, leadership and management, and communication, as revealed by the Global Skills Report 2022, which evaluated the skills of over 100 million learners across 102 countries in the past year. With regards to overall skills, the UAE was the top country in the Mena region and 23rd internationally. Coursera said in the report, “The UAE has been preparing for the post-oil era with a more diversified, high-skill economy”. ” However, education leaders will need to address weaknesses in technology and data science skills.”

The UAE is eyeing greater economic diversification and has invested in building a knowledge-based economy. The government also desires to offer incentives to foreign professionals to move to the Emirates and consequently expanded its 10-year golden visa. It would also boost the development of skills among the country’s current level of the excellent talent pool.

By 2050, approximately 85 million jobs may vanish while 97 million new ones will replace them as automation and digital technology have brought a radical change in almost every industry, Coursera said.

The defence minister of India Rajnath Singh who is currently in Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang on Wednesday.

 The Defence Ministers signed the ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’, which will greatly boost the possibilities and scale of existing defence cooperation, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. It added that this would be a major step to make easy the procedures for logistic support that would benefit both countries, especially now when the cooperative engagements between both countries are augmented. The logistics support pact will also allow the militaries of both sides to use each other’s bases for mending and re-stocking supplies.

 Mr. Singh began his official visit by paying respects to late President Ho Chi Minh at his Mausoleum in Hanoi. He said on Twitter after the meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart that he had an “excellent meeting” where they discussed constructive and practical resourcefulness to increase the bilateral defence engagements and regional and international issues. India has also shared a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the South-East Asian country since 2016 and defence cooperation plays a vital role in this partnership.

India signed its first logistics agreements with the U.S in 2016 and thereafter with all Quad countries, France, Singapore, and South Korea.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Indian Cabinet where he approved the proposal for signing a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates. The agreement will be done on cooperation in the field of industries and advanced technologies.

With nearly Rs.1.37 lakh crore investment, UAE became the eighth largest investor in India where India invests around Rs.6.48 lakh crore in UAE. On February 18, both nations signed a bilateral “Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” to potentially increase trade from US$ 60 billion to US$ 100 billion in the next five years.

Economic and commercial relations between India and the UAE are growing, contributing to a rapidly diversifying and deepening bilateral relationship between the two. Trade between India and the UAE, valued at US$ 180 million (Rs.1373 crore) in the 1970s, has increased to US$ 60 billion (Rs.4.57 lakh crore) in 2019-20, making the UAE India’s third-largest trading partner after China and the US.

Research and innovation can be increased in all areas of mutual cooperation by implementing the MoU, especially in the fields of Renewable Energy, Artificial Intelligence, Industry Enabling Technologies, and Health and Life Science.

American President Joe Biden on Monday will waive tariffs for two years on solar panel imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam but not China as the US is looking to augment the manufacturing of domestic clean energy, the White House said.

A fact sheet said the US would call on the Act to boost domestic production and use the procurements of the federal government to increase demand. Bloomberg reported that the step has been implemented to boost priorities such as combating climate change and raising the domestic solar manufacturing that has strived hard to compete with cheap imports.

Abigail Ross Hopper, chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement that Biden’s move is a much-needed respite from “this industry-crushing probe,” He further said that during the two-year tariff suspension period, the US solar industry can return to quick deployment while the Defense Production Act helps boost solar manufacturing in the country.

With the news of Biden’s plan, Chinese solar panel makers Longi Green Energy Technology Co. rose to 6.1 percent in Shanghai, Jinko Solar Co. jumped 8.9 percent, and Trina Solar Co.increased by 6.3 percent, Bloomberg added. China is excluded from the tariff suspension as the Commerce Department is trying to find if certain Chinese companies are avoiding US customs duties by assembling parts in the four countries.

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal participated in a virtual meeting on Tuesday with Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business, and Economic Development Mary Ng and both countries have welcomed the progress in negotiations towards the interim trade pact.

Ng had visited India in March this year and had decided upon The Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA). Canada’s foreign ministry said the two countries “continue to work towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement”. The ministers discussed the status of negotiations on important issues, including goods trade and services and investment protection, and strongly stated their dedication to keeping the momentum going into the next round of negotiations, to take place in a few months. Goyal said in a tweet that both nations were working to pick out sectors for better collaborations and greater investments to provide gains to the businesses and people.

The bilateral engagement between the two countries has seen a significant improvement in recent times after a tough time since the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to India in February 2018. Last week, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault and India’s Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav signed an agreement to enhance bilateral cooperation on climate action, environmental protection, and conservation and described India as “a key partner in addressing climate change and environmental issues”.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a two-day event of the Biotech Start-up Expo 2022 to mark ten years of setting up the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council BIRAC at 10:30 a.m., at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It will be held on the 9th and 10th of June. He will be addressing the gathering at the inaugural event themed ‘Biotech Startup Innovation: Towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

Approximately 300 stalls will be set up to showcase the application of biotechnology in various sectors. The stall will include healthcare, biopharma, genomics, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, clean energy, waste-to-vale, etc.

It aims to connect and bridge the gap between entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, industry leaders, scientists, bio-incubators, regulators, manufacturers, government officials, and much more. Additionally, the event will showcase 75 biotech entrepreneurs and an e-Portal of 750 biotech products.

The first day of the expo will also witness a panel discussing the growth of the bio-economy and a consultation meeting after that with the stakeholders. After this, the expo will be opened to the general public and conduct open house interactions and networking sessions. The second day will be followed by a Start-up Pitching session.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s official data for the first quarter showcased a 9.9% growth in the Gross Domestic Product. The data is said to be the fastest in a decade, beating last month’s flash estimate of 9.6%. Gross domestic product growth on a seasonally-adjusted basis was 2.6%, while oil activity was up 2.9%.

According to the chief economist, Monica Malik at the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, this was the fastest increase since the third quarter of 2011. It was majorly due to oil production. Malik said that the nation is in a very strong position due to its limited oil capacity and high oil prices.

The increase showed a high percentage of oil activity of 20.3%. In the first quarter of 2022, GDP per capita amounted to 26,961 riyals ($7,187), up 33.8% from the same quarter last year.

Natural gas and crude petroleum majorly contributed to the GDP by 32.4%, oil by 3.7%, and government activities increased by 2.4% yearly. However, there was a fall in government activity of 0.9% in the fourth quarter.

The General Authority for Statistics said, “All economic activity recorded positive annual growth rates in the first quarter of 2022”.