In a first, India, Iran and Armenia held a round of political consultations in Yerevan, Armenia in April. The countries agreed to hold future meetings in a trilateral format. In addition to trilateral cooperation, the countries had a wide range of discussions, particularly on economic issues and regional communication. J. P. Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs led the Indian side. He was joined by Mnatsakan Safaryan, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, and Seyed Rasoul Mousavi, the Assistant of the Foreign Minister of Iran, Head of the Regional General Department of So
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will temporarily join Harvard University later this year. The university said that she has been appointed to dual fellowships at Harvard Kennedy School and to a concurrent fellowship at the Berkman Klein Center. In January, Ardern announced her decision to step down, saying she had “no more in the tank” to lead the country. A global icon of the left and an inspiration to women around the world, Ardern led her country through a devastating mass shooting. She will serve as the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and a Hauser Lea
Mohammed Shahabuddin was sworn in as the 22nd president of Bangladesh on April 24 at a state ceremony attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet colleagues. The veteran politician was elected unopposed as the President of Bangladesh in February as a candidate of the ruling Awami League. Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered the oath to 73-year-old Shahabuddin at the Durbar Hall of Bangabhaban. Several politicians, Supreme Court judges, and senior civil and military officials attended the event. Born in 1949 and hailing from the northwestern Pa
India has evacuated 534 citizens so far from the crisis-hit Sudan in a 72-hour ceasefire. The first batch of 278 citizens arrived at a port in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on board INS Sumedha under Operation Kaveri on Tuesday. The second and third batches of 121 and 135 citizens carried by IAF's C-130J aircraft arrived on April 26. The Government of India launched an evacuation mission for its citizens stuck in Sudan following the fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. It is looking to rescue more of its citizens from the strife-torn African nation. Under O
Recalling her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India last month, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that he is the most popular world leader with the commitment and desire to move India forward as a global power. “Unbelievable and visionary,” that is how Raimondo described the Indian premier in her statement during an event hosted by the Indian Embassy in Washington on April 15. The diplomat was in India last month for the India-US Commercial Dialogue and India-US CEO Forum meeting. “I had an incredible opportunity to spend more than an hour and a half with Prime
High Commissioner of Uganda to India, Joyce Kakuramatsi Kikafunda on April 15 said that India is going to be the voice of the Global South and it will bring her country’s issues to the G20. The Ugandan envoy also termed the recent visit of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to her country as beautiful. “We believe that they (India) are going to be the voice of the South. India is already going to be a superpower. So we believe they (India) know our issues and they will bring them up and they are ahead of some big countries who have forgotten how it was. But we believe India will b
Former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel was honoured with the country’s highest honour for her achievements in office. The Grand Cross award was handed to her in a ceremony in Berlin by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The Order of Merit entails no financial reward. Merkel, Germany’s first female Chancellor, led the country from 2005 to 2021. Notably, only two former chancellors of Germany, Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl, have received the Grand Cross award earlier. All three former leaders belong to the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel led Germany from 20
The four additional Philippine military bases that the United States now has access to under a 2014 defence and security deal will not be used for offensive actions, said Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on April 10. Ferdinand Marcos Jr statement came after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning warned that Manila’s decision to expand the number of military bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with Washington may draw the Philippines “into a whirlpool of a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait”. Manila and Washington in February agreed to ex
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met her Saudi Arabia counterpart, Mohammed Aljadaan and discussed the global debt crisis and strengthening of the multilateral development banks – an initiative under India’s G-20 presidency. The finance ministers met on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington on April 12. In a series of tweets, the ministers shared their experiences. “H.E. Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and I discussed the #G20 agenda, and the progress made,” Aljadaan said in a tweet. Am
After it shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in February, the US military held a brief conversation with the Indian side and other like-minded countries to update them about the matter, a senior American military commander said on April 10. General Kenneth S Wilsbach, commander of the US Pacific Air Forces, said the country held the interaction behind closed doors with most of the air chiefs of the region. The suspected giant Chinese balloon was supposedly spying on key military sites across America. The US used fighter jets to bring down the balloon off the coast of South C