Category: Politics

On Monday, the United Kingdom’s trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan and her counter South Korean counterpart Yeo Han-Koo will sign a deal to reinforce pandemic-damage supply lines for major projects like semiconductors in London.

The upcoming meeting is a precursor to formal negotiations. They are expected to commence by the end of the year to improve the existing agreement which will effectively keep in place the term that Britain had as an EU member.

The ministers will also begin work on a revised trade agreement as Britain seeks to use its exit from the European Union to strengthen ties with faster-growing economies in Asia and the Pacific.

Trevelyan said in a statement, “This is our Indo-Pacific tilt in action-strengthening ties with one of the largest economies in the world”. Before the meeting, the delegation is scheduled will try to improve the supply chain resilience in the face of global disruption caused due to pandemics. This has hampered the production costs and fuelling inflation which is considered as the highest in 30 years in Britain.

According to Britain, it wants to ensure the flowing of critical good between the two nations.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris is expected to meet India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday. A recent credit line of USD 500 million has already been approved for the island nation. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Peiris will visit India from February 6 to February 8.

Foreign ministers from both countries are likely to discuss how to expand bilateral cooperation in a variety of areas, such as trade and investment.

On Monday, Harsh Vardhan Shringla will also meet with the dignitary, according to the MEA. In a move to assist Sri Lanka with its petroleum product purchases, India provided the island nation with a USD 500 million credit line (one million equals Rs 10 lakhs).

After a virtual meeting between Jaishankar and Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa on January 15, India announced its assistance to Colombo of USD 500 million.

Talks are likely to include the contentious fishing issue as well.

56 Indian fishermen were released by Sri Lankan authorities on January 25. Last month, the island nation signed a deal to redevelop around 75 oil tanks in Trincomalee with the Sri Lankan affiliate of Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC), Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), and the joint venture between LIOC and CPC.

During the first trip to Asia as president, Joe Biden will stop at several stops, including a summit with three key regional allies in Japan this spring.

According to the US official, Biden accepted an invitation to visit Japan in spring to attend the summit of the Quad which consists of Japan, Australia, India, and the United States. However, the officials said that the details are still being worked out.

The trip is roughly planned in May as keeping the concern over China and North Korea on top of the agenda as Washington was looking into having Biden visit South Korea at the same time.

The senior U.S. official said, “The President will travel later this year to Tokyo for the Quad Summit, as part of our commitment to regularize our engagement through the Quad, which continues to operate at full speed”.

During the visit, the administration plans to launch a new Pacific Island initiative along with allies and partners that will bring together regional countries to drive resources, coordinate their actions and raise their ambition in the region including maritime, climate, and transportation issues.

United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed greetings for India on Republic Day as he focused his message on the launch of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks along with the India-UK partnership over vaccines.

The FTA between India-UK is billed in the UK as creating huge benefits for both the nations as they have the potential to boost bilateral trade up to GBP 28 billion by 2035. It also aims to increase the wages to GBP 3 billion across the UK.

Johnson said that he feels proud of the friendship shared between the two “diverse democracies” and is looking forward to fortifying the strong bond of 75 years and beyond.

Mr. Johnson said, “As two diverse democracies, I am proud of our strong friendship, demonstrated by the launch of free trade negotiations this month and our partnership manufacturing the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine. I look forward to fortifying those bonds as we bring our ambitions, people, and economies together to prosper for the next 75 years and beyond”.

Covishield, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University, is a joint venture of Anglo-Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Serum Institute India (SII).

Officials from the US and Europe are coordinating with natural gas suppliers worldwide to cushion the impact of the Russian government cutting off energy supplies amid the conflict over Ukraine.

As a result of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, the US and European allies have threatened harsh economic and political sanctions for the country. However, the European nations are worried about the repercussions of any such sanction as Russia can potentially cut off delivery of its natural gas to Europe amid the peak winter season.

Europe is likely to look for natural gas supplies in Middle East Asia, North America, and the United States. According to one of the officials, the Russian cutoff will require “much smaller volumes” from a variety of sources.

Approximately 100,000 Russian troops are deployed near Ukraine’s border for weeks which has sparked a diplomatic crisis for Europe and US.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “There’s a cost imposed on everyone, but we have done a tremendous amount of work to mitigate any effects of sanctions on those imposing them as well as any retaliatory action that Russia might take”

on Wednesday, in a meeting in Paris, Moscow and Kyiv committed to observing a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine after an eight-hour-long discussion where a French diplomat sent a “good signal.”

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about the condition of anonymity and stressed that the talks in Paris had been regarding the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014. He further added that the question was if the Russians wanted to signal a thaw”. According to him the “difficult” discussions had finally resulted in something positive.

As Moscow presses demands over NATO’s presence in eastern Europe, a Russian troop build-up near Ukraine’s border has fueled fears of military intervention in its pro-EU neighbor.

Since 2019, Ukraine and Russia agreed to sign a joint statement with France and Germany for the first time regarding the ongoing conflicts between the Ukrainian army and separatists in the eastern part of the country.

Since 2014, the four nations are working towards having a peace deal for eastern Ukraine and are collectively known as the Normandy Group.

The French aide said, “However difficult the discussions have been since December 2019, the Normandy Group has been able to agree on several key points”.

Iran’s southeastern port of Chabahar and two western Indian ports of Nhava Sheva and Kandla have established a direct container shipping route to bypass Pakistan. Jalil Eslami, Deputy Head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO), has announced that the first container service will arrive in Shahid Beheshti port on February 16.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) container services are performed with a traffic schedule of 10 to 15 days. The shipping line between CHabahar and the Indian ports of Mumbai and Mundra was previously launched by India in 2017. The second direct shipping route was launched in January 2019 that passed through Mumbai, Mundra, Kandla, Chabahr, and finally to Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

In addition to Afghanistan and Persian Gulf nations, India uses these shipping routes to transport goods to Central Asia, reports Iranian media. India can bypass Pakistan, while Afghanistan can reach India by sea, thanks to the Chabahar port.

It had been difficult to transform the age-old ties of commerce and blood between the nation-states of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan into an enduring post-modern relationship due to Pakistan’s refusal to grant transit to India to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

With Prime Minister Marion Draghi as the most prominent candidate in a wide-open market, Italy’s parliament will begin voting on Monday for a new head of state which will be closely monitored by financial markets.

Italian politicians are concerned about the election result might spark new uncertainty in the third-largest economy in the eurozone, which is grappling with a resurgence of COVID-19 infections and deaths.

At 1400 GMT, more than 1,000 parliamentarians and regional representatives will convene for the first of several rounds of secret voting to replace outgoing Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

To win, two-thirds of the vote must be obtained in the first three rounds, with an absolute majority enough thereafter.

Draghi, a leader of a national unity administration, has said he would like the job of a seven-year term. However, some parties are reluctant to support him for fear of stirring up political turmoil and an early election. Matteo Salvini, who is the rightist League leader said on Sunday, “At this difficult moment, it would be dangerous to remove Draghi from the post of Prime Minister”. His remarks were similar to those of his coalition partner Berlusconi.

On Friday, the World Economic Forum has announced that for May 22-26, the Davos summit will be held in person for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Annual meetings of the world’s political, economic, and business elite are held in Davos, a resort in the Swiss Alps, in January. However, the forum did not take place in 2020’s January despite repeated postponements along with a proposed one-off shift to Singapore.

The WEF founder Klaus Schwab said, “After all the virtual meetings taking place in the last two years, leaders from politics, business, and civil society have to convene finally in person again. We need to establish the atmosphere of trust that is truly needed to accelerate collaborative action and to address the multiple challenges we face”.

The WEF also said that the gathering will be held under the theme of “Working Together, Restoring Trust”. Leaders will have an opportunity to take stock of the global situation and outline policies for the coming period.

During the online series of round-table events this week, the world and business leaders have shared their views on the global economic outlook.

The Central Asian summit will be held in a virtual format on January 27 by the Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the leader of five central Asian visits was canceled due to a rise in the COVID-19 cases.

Mr. Modi will host the first meeting with the participation of the presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

The foreign ministry said, “The first India-Central Asia summit is a reflection of India’s growing engagement with the central Asian countries, which are a part of India’s ‘extended neighborhood ‘. PM Modi paid a historic visit to all central Asian countries in 2015. Subsequently, there have been the exchanges at high levels at bilateral and multilateral forums”.

During the summit, the leader will exchange views on regional and international issues of interest focusing mainly on evolving regional security situations. The nations are expected to exchange discuss steps to take forward India-Central Asia relation to a newer height.

New Delhi recently hosted the third meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue at the Foreign Ministers’ level, which has “provided a new impetus to India-Central Asia relations”.