Category: Politics

Former NATO General Petr Pavel was sworn in as Czech Republic’s President on March 9.

In his maiden speech as the Czech President, Pavel underlined peace in Ukraine. “Central Europe’s single voice will be important if we are to help Ukraine prevail,” he said at the ceremony at Prague Castle. “It is in our own vital interest to support Ukraine.”

The new president vowed to lift his country’s reputation abroad “to a new level.” He said, he would back policies to quash inflation, which ran at 17.5% in January, while also pledging to fix public finances.

Pavel was elected in January, having defeated former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a billionaire populist, in the run-off. He was a career soldier, having joined the army during the Communist era and was decorated with a French military cross for valour during peacekeeping operations in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The social liberal leader campaigned as an independent, and pledged to firmly anchor the Czech Republic in the European Union and NATO, and to boost relations with the United States. His stand was entirely different from his predecessor Milos Zeman, who had sought to boost ties with Russia and China. Zeman served as president for 10 years and his last five-year term expired on March 8.

While the role is mostly ceremonial, the Czech President names the government, appoints the central bank governor and Constitutional Court judges, and serves as the supreme commander of the armed forces.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has begun his third term as the President of China, after securing a historic win as president in a ceremonial vote in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on March 10. He received a unanimous 2,952 votes followed by a standing ovation.

Xi Jinping’s unprecedented third term as China’s president was officially endorsed by the country’s political elite, strengthening his control and making him the longest-serving head of state of Communist China since its foundation in 1949. His reappointment was largely seen as a formality, after the 69-year-old leader secured a norm-shattering third term as head of the Chinese Communist Party last fall.

In China, the presidency – or “state chairman” in Chinese – is a largely ceremonial title. Real power resides in the positions of head of the party and military, two key roles that Xi also holds and was reappointed to at a key Communist Party congress in October.

Xi has begun his third when the Chinese economy is struggling to recover from three years of harsh zero-COVID-19 restrictions, investor confidence is waning, and a demographic crisis is looming as the country registered its first population decline in six decades.

China is also facing a series of diplomatic headwinds from Washington and other Western capitals, as relations plummeted in recent years over Beijing’s human rights record, military build-up, handling of COVID-19, and growing partnership with Russia.

The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Farhan Al-Saud has said that the relationship between India and Saudi Arabia has grown exponentially, and there is a need for measurable progress in all sectors, especially the economic and trade relationship.

Highlighting the strong relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi FM said that both leaders want to see actual results and progress in relationship between the two nations. Al-Saud said this relationship has grown exponentially in the last five years. “India is a fantastically dynamic country with huge potential, and we have seen that especially in the last five years, the trajectory for India is fantastic. The potential that India holds is almost unmeasurable.”

In an interview in Delhi, the visiting minister acknowledged the fact that India has played an important role in the developmental journey of the Kingdom for several decades given the large Indian presence in the country. He also said that India’s huge size offers great potential as a huge amount of India’s trade to Europe passes through the Red Sea. “We are of course India’s most important energy partner as that’s the case for traditional energies, but we are also looking to continue that into the renewable era,” he added.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that Indian degrees would now be recognised in Australia. Albanese added that the Australian Government and Indian Government have finalised the Australia-India Education Qualification Recognition Mechanism, through which Indian degrees would be considered valid.

The first official visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to India is from March 8 to 11. The visit began from Gujarat, where the Australian Prime Minister announced that students with Indian qualifications would be recognised in his country. In addition, for Indian students who have studied in Australia, their Australian degrees would also be recognised in India.

Apart from the validation for degree, Prime Minister Albanese also announced a new scholarship, Maitri for eligible Indian students who wish to study in Australia for up to four years. “The scholarships are part of the wider Maitri programme that seeks to boost cultural, educational and community ties between Australia and India,” he added.

During his four-day India trip, the Australian Prime Minister celebrated Holi at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, received a guard of honour on board India’s first homegrown aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and met popular dabbawalas in Mumbai, and watched the first day of the fourth Test between Australia and India of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera in Gujarat. On March 10, he is scheduled to take part in the Ceremonial Reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi which will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Rajghat.

Calling India’s economy a success story, Morocco’s Delegate Minister of Investment Mohcine Jazouli said that most countries, including Morocco, want to benefit with India.

In an interview to an Indian news agency, Mohcine Jazouli said, “We want to benefit from India’s experience, mainly from financial technologies, and automobile,” adding that Morocco can share its experiences in renewable energy. “We can use Morocco as a manufacturing and industrial platform for India.”

Jazouli was speaking to the media after a bilateral meeting with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the sidelines of the 12th edition of FICCI ‘MASSMERIZE’ conference held in New Delhi. Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a visionary, Jazouli said most of the countries want to benefit from the best practices of Indian companies and the Indian government. “We consider India as a success story.”

The Moroccan Minister said, “We met and discussed about the cooperation with India. We can use Morocco as a manufacturing and industrial platform for India. On behalf of Morocco, we invited Indian companies to come and invest in Morocco. So, they can reach a market of almost USD 2.5 billion consumers. Morocco has free trade agreements with countries like the US and European countries as well.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called India a critical and great power in the Indo-Pacificregion. “There is no reshaping of the Indo-Pacific without India. We have seen that India is a civilisational power that brings a different perspective to some of the challenges of these times,” she said in her address at the meeting of QUAD Foreign Ministers in Delhi on March 3.

Wong participated in a meeting presided by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the sidelines of Raisina Dialogue 2023. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken were the other participants of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) meeting.

The Australian Foreign Minister also explained how Quad can be a complimentary actor in the Indo-Pacific. “The complementarity of this configuration with the architecture of the region, I think, is demonstrated from the Australian perspective by our geography and by our interest,” said the Australian FM.

Wong said that in terms of geography, Australia is the smallest economy, most southernmost economy, abounded on one side by the Indian Ocean, the other side by the Pacific, ASEAN, and particularly the northern countries of ASEAN. “So for us, our interest lies in a world which is being reshaped, the region which is being reshaped — looking through this and the architecture of the region, which I describe as stable, peaceful, secure and respecting sovereignty,” she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought investments in India’s green economy, and said the country’s solar, wind and biogas potential is no less than any gold mine or oil field.

Addressing the first webinar on green growth in the 12 post-budget webinars to be held till 11 March, the Prime Minister said that India’s commanding position in the renewable energy space will ensure a commensurate change in the world. Besides the three segments of solar, wind and biogas, he also highlighted investment opportunities in areas like the green hydrogen ecosystem, which includes fuel cells, electrolysers, and green steel, waste-to-energy projects, battery storage, and vehicle scrapping, among others.

India has been the fastest when it comes to renewable energy capacity addition among major economies since 2014, the Prime Minister said, adding that the country’s track record proves its ability to achieve objectives in the green energy space well ahead of schedule. India met the target of having 40% share of non-fossil fuels in the installed electricity capacity nine years ahead of deadline. The target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol was also accomplished five months before time. The government has brought ahead the deadline for achieving 20% blending by five years to 2025-26.

Narendra Modi said that under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, India is working to achieve the target of 5 million tonnes per annum of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030. The government has allocated Rs 19,000 crore to incentivise the private sector in this segment.

US President Joe Biden has nominated former Mastercard head Ajay Banga to lead the World Bank.

The Indian-American is chosen for his extensive experience in leading successful organisations in developing countries and forging public-private partnerships to address financial inclusion and climate change. In a statement, the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen said that Banga was “uniquely” equipped to take on that charge, pointing to his track record of forging partnerships between governments, companies and non-profits.

Being the World Bank’s biggest shareholder, the US has traditionally been in charge of selecting the person to lead the institution, which lends billions of dollars to countries each year. It is up to the bank’s board to officially appoint its next head.

Ajay Banga, now a US citizen, started his career in India, where his father was an Army officer. He worked at Nestle and Citigroup before joining Mastercard. As Mastercard President and CEO, he led the company through a strategic, technological and cultural transformation. He currently serves as Vice Chairman at General Atlantic. Over the course of his career, Banga has become a global leader in technology, data, financial services and innovating for inclusion, said the statement issued by the White House.

The UAE will explore all opportunities of partnership with India to contribute to the Asian country’s high-growth-low-carbon pathway, said Sultan Al Jaber, the COP28 president-designate, on February 22. He added that the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level is “just non-negotiable”. 

“India’s goal of adding 500 GW of clean energy in the next seven years is a true and a powerful statement of intent. As one of the largest investors in renewable energy, the UAE and Masdar (renewable energy investing firm) will explore all opportunities of partnership with India to contribute to its high-growth-low-carbon pathway,” he said.

The UAE’s climate envoy was speaking at the World Sustainable Development Summit organised by The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi. He added that India is on its way to becoming the third largest economy in the world, and this makes it one of the largest consumers of energy. The country’s sustainable development is critical not just for itself, but for the whole world. The world needs a true, comprehensive paradigm shift in its approach to adaptation, mitigation, finance and loss and damage, said Sultan Al Jaber. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged global financial leaders to focus on the world’s “most vulnerable citizens” as he inaugurated a Group of 20 (G-20) meeting on February 24.

In his address to the two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors at the Nandi Hills resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Modi said the COVID-19 pandemic and “rising geo-political tensions in different parts of the world” had led to unsustainable debt levels in several countries, disruptions to global supply chains and threats to food and energy security. He added that stability, confidence and growth must be brought back to the world economy.

The meeting comes amid signs that the global outlook has improved from the last G20 summit in October, when a number of economies were on the brink of recession amid energy and food price spikes caused by the war. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen highlighted the improvement, saying the global economy “is in a better place today than many predicted just a few months ago.” He attributed the improvement in part to cooperation among G-20 central banks and governments over the past year in taking strong action to suppress inflation. He called for more such efforts to mitigate other global challenges such as food shortage.