Category: Politics

India will host the Voice of Global South Summit on January 12-13. As many as 120 countries are expected to participate in the summit. Ten to 20 countries will be part of one session, and two lead sessions will be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vinay Kwatra, the Foreign Secretary of India said on Friday.

The Voice of Global South Summit will focus on issues such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict, and increasing food, fertilisers, and fuel prices. The Global South largely refers to countries in Asia, Africa and South America. This summit, under the theme of ‘Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose,’ envisages bringing together these countries to share their perspectives and priorities on a common platform, the Ministry of External Affairs said. The initiative is inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas, andis also underpinned by India’s philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Kwatra said.

The Voice of Global South Summit will include 10 sessions over the course of two days. The inaugural and concluding sessions would be at the Head of State or Government level, and hosted by the Prime Minister. The theme of the Inaugural Leaders’ session is Voice of Global South — for Human-Centric Development, and that of the Concluding Leaders’ session is Unity of Voice-Unity of Purpose.

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will discuss key issues from climate change to critical technologies, including through the Quad (comprising Australia, Japan, India and the US) and advance a free and open Indo-Pacific during Kishida’s visit to the US on January 13.

Over the past year, the two leaders have worked closely together to modernise the US-Japan alliance. During the meeting, the leaders will discuss a range of regional and global issues, including North Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, Russian invasion of Ukraine, and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, said the statement from the White House.

President Biden will reiterate his full support for Japan’s recently released National Security Strategy, its presidency of the G7, and its term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, read the statement. Japan’s new security strategy has a special focus on a free and open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). It will build a multilayered network among its allies and like-minded countries, expand it, and fortify deterrence. The National Security Strategy of Japan will enhance security cooperation with Australia, India, the ROK, European countries, ASEAN countries, Canada, NATO, EU, and others.

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister of Cyprus Ioannis Kasoulides signed three key agreements in a joint press conference held in Nicosia, Cyprus in December 2022.

The leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding on defence and military cooperation, a letter of intent on Migration and Mobility Partnership – to provide a common framework of arrangement and cooperation to facilitate the mobility of students, academics, business people and professionals and help combat irregular migration – and the framework agreement on International Solar Alliance by Cyprus.

The leaders also held discussions on bilateral relations, multilateral cooperation, geopolitical and regional challenges, on the Indo-Pacific issue, the Middle East, Europe and India’s relation with the European Union. They also released commemorative stamps on the occasion of 75 years of India’s Independence and marking 60 years of India’s diplomatic relations with Cyprus.

Foreign Minister of Cyprus, Ioannis Kasoulides thanked India for supporting the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), where in the UN Security Council expressed concern over unauthorised activities in the buffer zone separating Greek and Turkish communities in the northern and southern regions of the Mediterranean island since 1974.

India is planning to speed up its ambitious plans to convert the strategically located Andaman and Nicobar Islands into a shipping and tourism hub with links to South-East Asia, say news reports.

Building links between Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India and Aceh in Indonesia, situated 150 km apart, is part of the Shared Vision for Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific signed in 2018 between the two countries. Officials from both the countries in a recent meeting agreed to “encourage sail tourism, cruise ship visits, and interaction between tour operators” to increase connectivity between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Aceh, where India is helping to develop the deep sea port of Sabang. The officials also agreed to help create opportunities for investors.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have a population of around 4 lakh, including aboriginal tribes. The Centre’s infrastructure plan includes a leisure zone, a film city, a residential district, and a tourism-specific economic zone, underwater resorts and beach hotels in Little Andaman. The biggest infrastructure push is coming in Great Nicobar, which is sparsely populated but rich in biodiversity. The government plans to build a deep-berth port here with a container trans-shipment terminal, an airport, power plant and township at an estimated cost of Rs. 720 billion. The airport will be a joint military-civil, dual-use airport under the operational control of the Indian Navy.

Croatia adopted the euro as its currency on 1 January 2023. With this, Croatia has officially become the 20th European Union (EU) member state to do so.

Beginning Sunday, the euro will gradually replace the kuna as the currency of Croatia, at a conversion rate of 1 euro for 7.53450 Croatian kuna. The two currencies will be used alongside each other for a period of two weeks. When receiving a payment in kuna, the change will be given in euro.

The Balkan nation joined the EU nearly a decade ago, but had to wait until now to qualify as a Eurozone country. Croatia has also become a member of the Schengen Area zone where 27 European countries facilitate free and unrestricted movement of people. Checks at internal air borders in Croatia will be lifted from 26 March 2023.

Experts say the adoption of the euro will help shield Croatia’s economy at a time when inflation is soaring worldwide after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent food and fuel prices through the roof. However, media reports say that Croatians have mixed feelings on becoming EU member. While they welcome the end of border controls, some worry about the euro switch, with right-wing opposition groups saying it only benefits large countries such as Germany and France.

From Monday, January 2, 2023, the United Arab Emirates is offering government employees a year-long paid leave scheme to start their own businesses and become self-employed.

UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said that the country’s cabinet has approved the initiative with the aim to encourage more businesses. This comes days after the country unveiled a reformed social welfare programme for its local population.

“Today, within the Council, we decided on sabbatical leave for citizens working in the government who wish to run their own businesses. The leave lasts for a full year, with half the salary, while preserving the job. Our goal is to encourage our youth to take advantage of the huge business opportunities offered by our national economy,” HH Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

Under the new rule, the citizens of UAE who are willing to start their businesses will be paid half of their salaries for one year. This leave will be approved by the head of the federal authority for which the employee works for and can be combined with unpaid leave and annual leave. The UAE government will also support these citizens in the fields of entrepreneurship, and establishing and managing companies.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced in an end-of-year news conference a new package of measures worth €10 billion ($10.6 billion) to ease the cost of living, including slashing the value-added tax (VAT) on basic foodstuffs.

For six months, the Spanish government will reduce VAT on all basic foods from 4% to zero. Pedro Sánchez said the list of such food items includes bread, milk, eggs, cheese, fruit and vegetables, and cereals. VAT on oil and pasta will be reduced from 10% to 5%. The Spanish Prime Minister also unveiled a one-off payment of €200 to families with incomes lower than €27,000 to offset food prices, which will cost some €4.2 million.

The new aid plan is the sixth package of measures launched by the Spanish government to respond to the “economic and social consequences” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The overall amount released by Spain’s government to help those struggling with soaring inflation and runaway food and energy prices now stands at €45 billion. The European country’s efforts to address soaring inflation have borne fruit in recent months, with the figure falling from a record 10.8% in July to 6.8% in November.

Extending the discount on electricity and gas prices by six months and the ban on cutting energy supplies to vulnerable households throughout 2023, the government said the 20 cent discount per litre of fuel available for all consumers will now be limited to the most affected sectors such as lorry drivers, farmers, shipping companies and fishermen.

Serbia has released a dedicated stamp to commemorate the 75 years of India’s independence.

The Post of Serbia released the stamp as a celebration of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ at a special event organised by PTT Museum in Belgrade. The Acting Director of the Post of Serbia, Zoran Djordjevic handed over the stamp to Ambassador Sanjeev Kohli in presence of Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.

The First DYPM in his statement noted that 75 years had passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and the then Yugoslavia, and the friendship between the two countries continues to grow stronger.

Ambassador Sanjeev Kohli said that the two countries share a special relationship and rejoice at each other’s success and stand by each other in difficult times. Djordjevic remarked that the great friendship with India had been immaculate and it was only logical for the Post of Serbia to issue the dedicated stamp as it wanted to honour a great friend and ally.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, in a tweet, also announced publishing a special stamp to honour the 75th anniversary of India’s independence. Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic stressed that the two nations will mark 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2023.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” was on Monday sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal for a third time, after he submitted a letter to the President showing the support of 169 members in the 275-member House of Representatives. The 68-year-old leader took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas in Kathmandu.

Hours after he walked out of a pre-poll five-party alliance led by Nepali Congress president and outgoing Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) chairman Prachanda joined hands with opponent K P Sharma Oli, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), and other smaller parties to be appointed as the new Prime Minister of Nepal on Sunday.

Prachanda led the decade-long armed struggle in Nepal from 1996 to 2006 that ultimately ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in November 2006. He was born in Dhikurpokhari of Kaski district near Pokhara on December 11, 1954, and remained underground for almost 13 years. He joined mainstream politics when the CPN-Maoist adopted peaceful politics, ending a decade-long armed insurgency.

The Nepali Congress is the largest party with 89 seats in the House of Representatives while CPN-UML and CPN-MC have 78 and 32 seats, respectively.

The 6th Edition of India-Kazakhstan joint military training exercise, KAZIND-22, is going on in Umroi (Meghalaya). The exercise, scheduled from 15-28 December 2022, was instituted in 2016 as Exercise Prabal Dostyk, which was later upgraded to a Company-level exercise and renamed as Ex Kazind in 2018.

Kazakhstan Army soldiers comprising troops from the Regional Command, South and Indian Army soldiers from the 11 Gorkha Rifles are participating in the exercise. The objectives of the exercise are to build positive military relations, imbibe each other’s best practices, and promote the ability to operate together while undertaking counter terrorist operations in semi-urban/jungle scenarios, under a UN peace enforcement mandate. This joint exercise enables the two armies to train, plan and execute a series of combined tactical drills for neutralising likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace-keeping operations.

The scope of this exercise involves a Command Post Exercise (CPX) at the Battalion level and Company level Field Training Exercise (FTX) on sub-conventional operations. During the exercise, participants engage in a variety of missions ranging from joint planning, joint tactical drills, basics of special arms skills, HADR and raiding a hostile target.

“Exercise KAZIND” will also enhance the level of defence cooperation between Indian Army and Kazakhstan Army, which will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations.