Category: Politics

Underlining the strong ties between New Delhi and Washington, US Charge d’Affaires Ambassador A. Elizabeth Jones has called India “a partner of choice” for the country.

The US diplomat was speaking at the press conference in Bengaluru on the eve of Aero India 2023, which took place from February 13-17 in Bengaluru. She also opened the USA Partnership Pavilion at Aero India 2023.

Jones congratulated India on the country’s G20 presidency and looked forward to robust US participation. “India and the United States are crucial partners in so many ways to ensure a free and open, prosperous, connected, rules-based and resilient Indo-Pacific region where our democracies can thrive,” said the US envoy.

The diplomat also underlined India-US alliances in addressing several critical concerns and challenges. “We’re working together to address climate change, improve global health and prepare for new pandemics, cooperate on cyber challenges, build quality infra, and ensure sustainable supply chains,” said Jones.

The Indo-Pacific strategy focuses on building collective capacity to deal with challenges in the region. These include a focus on challenges from China, advancing the US relationship, a ‘Major Defense Partnership’ with India, and supporting its role as a net security provider in the region. She also said that both countries are strengthening cooperation on critical technologies from space components to semiconductors.

Humanitarian aid sent by Armenia for victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkey on February 6 could boost the neighbouring countries’ efforts to normalise their relations, said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on February 15.

For the first time in 35 years, a border gate between the long-feuding neighbours was opened to allow aid for quake victims in southern Turkey. Armenia also sent a rescue team to Turkey to help in the search for survivors.

“Armenia has extended its hand of friendship, showed solidarity and cooperation with us in this difficult time … We need to continue this solidarity,” Cavusoglu said at a joint news conference in Ankara with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.

Turkey’s special envoy for Armenia, Serdar Kilic, tweeted photos of trucks passing through the Alican checkpoint at the Turkish side of the Aras river separating the two countries. “I will always remember the generous aid sent by the people of Armenia to help alleviate the sufferings of our people in the earthquake stricken region in Turkey,” Kilic said, thanking Armenian officials. Anadolu said the crossing was last used to send aid from the Turkish Red Crescent to earthquake-hit Armenia in 1988.

Turkey and Armenia are at odds mainly over the 1.5 million people Armenia says were killed in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor to modern Turkey.

New Zealand sees India as a “counterbalance to the superpower contest” in the region and wants to take bilateral ties to the next level to boost cooperation in diverse areas, from agriculture to education and security, said the New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta in an interview on February 8.

Both India and New Zealand have been trying to revitalise their bilateral relationship since last year. Mahuta said that her discussions with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi focused on collaboration in climate action, especially in the Pacific, agriculture, research and technology, and meeting labour needs of the island country.

In October 2022, S. Jaishankar became the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit New Zealand since 2001, and three ministers from the island country – Mahuta, Food Safety Minister Meka Whaitiri and Trade Minister Damien O’Connor – have visited India since September 2022. These visits, Mahuta underlined, reflected a desire on both sides “to take the relationship to the next level”.

“India and New Zealand see ourselves as contributing…to a stable, prosperous and peaceful Indo-Pacific. What that means is we need to work hard together to ensure we uphold the international rules and norms that advocate for territorial integrity and sovereignty,” she said in response to a question on whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could trigger similar actions in other regions.

Japan and the Philippines have signed a defence pact to deepen military cooperation. The arrangement will see Japanese soldiers join natural and humanitarian disaster response training exercises in the Philippines. It has been seen as a first step towards broader defensive cooperation.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida signed the agreement in Tokyo on February 9. The visit of the Philippines President to Tokyo came shortly after the Philippines agreed to expand US access to its military bases, following a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Fumio Kishida said the agreement with the Philippines would be followed by further talks that would strengthen defensive ties and enable the transfer of equipment and technology to the Philippines, including air surveillance radar systems. The trilateral cooperation with the US would also be strengthened, he added.

In December 2022, the Japanese government amended its defensive doctrine, breaking with its defense-only principles since the end of World War II. While adopting a retaliatory strike capability, it said that it plans to double military spending in five years. The country also aims to support poorer nations in the region with development assistance focused on maritime security.

Germany’s former chancellor Angela Merkel on February 8 was awarded the Felix Houphouet-Boigny UNESCO Peace Prize in Ivory Coast’s capital Yamoussoukro for welcoming more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers to the European country in 2015 and 2016.

Angela Merkel showed political courage when Germany welcomed refugees, who had fled conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea. Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, president of the jury awarding the prize, praised her for having opened the gates of Germany “at the same time many other countries were overcome with fear.”

“Respecting, preserving and sharing human rights is the mission of each of us. We decided that it was necessary to respect these principles in our migration policy,” said the veteran political leader, who spent 16 years as Germany’s Chancellor and stepped down in 2021.

“Despite the hostility of public opinion, you took the decision to open Germany’s borders to refugees fleeing conflict zones,” said Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara. “You have reminded all world leaders of their duty of solidarity towards all humans,” he added.

Around 2,000 people were invited to the awards ceremony. The awards were founded in 1989 and has previously handed awards to Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Francois Hollande.

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will be on a three-day visit to Fiji from February 15 to attend the 12th World Hindi Conference, which will be co-hosted by the Governments of India and Fiji in Nadi. This will be Dr Jaishankar’s first visit to Fiji.

A 270-member delegation comprising Hindi scholars and officials will travel to Fiji for the conference. Representatives from 50 countries were expected to participate in the conference.

The conference will have a plenary session and 10 parallel sessions on topics such as Hindi in Girmitiya countries; Hindi in Fiji and the Pacific; Information Technology and Hindi in the 21st century; Media and the global perception of Hindi; global reference of Indian knowledge traditions and Hindi; and Linguistic coordination and Hindi translation. It will have parallel sessions on different forms of Hindi cinema and the global scenario; global market and Hindi; Pravasi Hindi literature in the changing scenario and Hindi teaching in India and abroad, challenges and solutions.

Dr. S. Jaishankar will also visit Sydney, Australia on February 18. This will be his third visit to Australia since February last year when he first visited the island continent as External Affairs Minister. In addition to attending meetings with Australian leadership in Sydney, Dr Jaishankar will attend the Raisina@Sydney Conference to be held in the country for the first time.

The European Union (EU) and Singapore signed the EU-Singapore Digital Partnership (EUSDP) on February 1 in Brussels. The EUSDP will lead to a digital trade agreement to enable consumers and businesses to transact online more seamlessly and at lower costs. The deal was signed by Singapore’s Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran and Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market.

The pact aims to boost participation in the digital economy by imparting relevant skills to workers in both jurisdictions and transforming their businesses and public services. Digital trade facilitation, trusted data flows, electronic payments and standards are other areas of collaboration. The deal will also focus on emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, digital identities, and 5G/6G communication networks.

Singapore and the EU share a strong economic relationship, underpinned by the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which came into force in November 2019. The EU is Singapore’s second-largest digital partner for trading services and fourth-largest for trading goods. Singapore is also the EU’s largest trading partner in ASEAN. There are about 12,000 EU businesses in Singapore. Investment relations are strong, with the EU being Singapore’s second largest foreign investor and largest overseas investment destination.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on February 6 announced a Global Climate Resilience Fund of 50 million dollars for women to fight climate change.

Addressing salt pan workers near Kuda village in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district, Clinton announced that the Clinton Global Initiative with the American Indian foundation, SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association founded by late activist Ela Bhatt) and other organisations will also help in providing new livelihood resources and education to women and communities.

On February 5, Clinton attended a programme in Ahmedabad to mark the 50 years of SEWA as a trade union, and paid homage to its founder and renowned social activist and Gandhian Ela Bhatt. During the event, she said that heat caused by climate change poses an additional challenge to women workers in informal sectors and the Global Climate Resilience Fund will help tackle this challenge. “I have had the privilege of working with EIaben and SEWA for nearly 30 years. But we are thinking about the next 50 years,” she said.

The former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on a visit to Gujarat for two days beginning February 5. During her visit, she took part in activities sponsored by the SEWA.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited investors to participate in the rapid growth being charted out by India’s energy sector.

In his address at the inauguration of India Energy Week (6-8 February) in Bengaluru, the Prime Minister said that numerous areas of India’s energy landscape, from conventional hydrocarbons to renewables and biofuels to promising futuristic fuels like green hydrogen, are seeing record growth and are full of opportunities.

The Prime Minister said that India’s strategy for the energy sector is centred around four major verticals of increase in domestic exploration and production of oil and gas, diversification of energy supplies, expansion of alternative sources of energy such ase biofuels, ethanol, compressed biogas, and solar energy, and achieving decarbonisation through electric vehicles and green hydrogen. He said that the country is working at a rapid pace in all these areas.

He said that fossil fuel exploration, second-generation ethanol, and green hydrogen are among the segments in which India will have investment opportunities worth thousands of crores of rupees. He also launched a few initiatives, including the sale of 20 per cent ethanol-blended petrol on a pilot basis by public sector oil marketing companies, and the twin cooktop Indian solar cooker.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended the India-UK NSA dialogue between British counterpart Tim Barrow and India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval at the UK Cabinet Office as a “special gesture” on February 3. During the discussion, Sunak emphasised the UK government’s support for strengthening strategic alliances in sectors, including trade, defence, and science and technology.

On his way back from Washington, where he met his American colleague Jake Sullivan for comparable discussions, Doval stopped in London for an annual bilateral strategic conversation.

“A special gesture by PM Rishi Sunak to join for a while the India-UK NSA dialogue between Sir Tim Barrow and Mr. Doval at Cabinet Office,” the Indian High Commission in London and Ministry of External Affairs tweeted late on Saturday, with reference to the meeting.

In order to strengthen their bilateral ties in all areas, including defence and security, India and the UK have agreed on a 2030 Roadmap. Six rounds of negotiations have taken place for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two parties, and a seventh-round is likely to take place in the UK in the coming weeks. Bilateral commerce between the two countries now amounts to about 29.6 billion pounds annually, according to official UK government figures. Both the parties hope to increase the figure through an FTA.