On Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the annual summit of the five-nation grouping BRICS on June 23 and 24 following an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is China that hosts the summit as the chair of the group for the current year. A group of five developing countries representing 41 percent of the world's population, 24 percent of the world's GDP, and 16 percent of global trade, the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) is the world's largest group of developing countries. Presidents Vladimir
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been elected after defeating independent candidate Rodolfo Hernandez in the second round of elections in a very tight race, the state-run National Civil Registry reported. Petro will take office on August 7. 62-year-old Petro is a senator and former Mayor of Capital Bogota. According to the reports 99.67 percent of polling stations, Petro, candidate of the leftist Historic Pact for Colombia coalition, received 11,266,138 votes, or 50.48 percent, while Hernandez received 10,546,163 votes or 47.26 percent. The new president took to Twitter to expre
The Foreign Ministers of The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 16 and talked about different facets of cooperation between the two sides. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers are in New Delhi as part of a two-day convention being hosted by India to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its relations with the 10-nation organization. The meeting between Modi and the ASEAN Foreign Ministers also had the presence of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Mr. Modi tweeted,” Had a good inte
US President Joe Biden is on his first trip to West Asia and will visit Saudi Arabia and meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next month in a bid to repair and build on ties with one of Washington’s closest allies. The decision marks the end of his administration's tough stance toward the country, over which ties have frayed in recent years because of human rights concerns. The White House also ended the speculations regarding Biden's visit to Israel and Palestinian West Bank, and Saudi Arabia. This will be his first trip from July 13-16 since taking office. This trips major political t
India, Israel, UAE, and the US formed a new 12U2 grouping that will hold its first virtual summit next month. The summit will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett to discuss the food security crisis and other areas of cooperation. The meeting of the four countries would take place during Biden's Middle East trip from July 13 to 16. According to the White House, it is the Biden administration's effort to revitalise and reenergize American alliances across the world, and he
Bahrain reshuffled its cabinet, the biggest cabinet restructuring in the country's history, changing 17 out of 22 ministers, including the appointment of four women ministers. Most of the new cabinets are from the younger generation and will take the oath of office on Wednesday. The reshuffle, done at the command of King Hamad, also included the appointment of Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure, Fatima Jaafer Al Sairafi as Tourism Minister, and Zayed Rashid Al Zayani as Industry and Commerce Minister. The new ministries also include
At a bilateral meeting on Thursday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Latvian counterpart, Edgar Rinkevich, discussed energy cooperation in a bilateral meeting in Cairo. The two further discussed a broad array of issues related to EU-Egypt relations and security policy and migration matters in the Mediterranean. The top agenda of the meeting included a discussion on stronger cooperation for food security arising due to the Ukraine conflict. It focused on the key role of Egypt in becoming a new energy supplier to the Baltic state. Rinkevich said, "I would stress that we see
On Friday, India and the European Union held a security and defense consultation in Brussels. This significant move was made with the aim of focusing on cyber security, maritime awareness, terrorism, joint exercises, training modules, and threat assessments, among other issues. The Ministry of Defence Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) Sommanth Ghosh and Sandeep Chakravorty-MEA Joint Secretary (Europe West) from India and Director Security and Defence Policy Mr. Joanneke Balfoort from the EU side, co-chaired the consultations. The sides discussed ways to increase India-EU coope
The director of the U.N.’s atomic custodian has set foot in Israel and is soon going to begin discussions with top officials The visit comes as Israel indicates escalating concerns about Iran's atomic activities and comeback to the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and international superpowers. It is believed that Israel is the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but has never admitted to having such weapons. The office of the Israeli Prime Minister stated that PM Naftali Bennett would meet with the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Gro
On Wednesday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appointed a record number of women to the new cabinet. The new federal ministry was into office with a diverse cabinet team that includes religious minorities and indigenous aboriginals. In the Albanese 23-member cabinet, a total of 10 women were included surpassing the seven in the previous cabinet led by Liberal-National coalition leader Scott Morrison. In a ceremony in Canberra, Linda Burney became the first Aboriginal woman to hold the Indigenous Australians ministry, Claire O’Neil as the home affairs and cyber security m