South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held a meeting of its ministers that was scheduled in New York. According to a source on Saturday, the meeting is a sideline of the high-level 76th United Nations General Assembly session that was canceled. The member-states reportedly disagreed on Afghanistan’s participation with Pakistan’s support. Pakistan insisted that the Taliban should be allowed to represent Afghanistan. With the disapproval of the proposal, India and other members objected that led the meeting to be annulled. Nepal was the host for the meeting that saw a
On Tuesday, the United States President Joe Biden in the UN General Assembly used his first address to declare that the world stands at an “inflection point in history”. He said that it needs to move quickly and cooperatively to address the festering issues of the pandemic, climate change, and human rights abuse. Biden asserted that the US is “not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs” amid the growing China tensions. He did not mention China directly but acknowledged increasing concerns regarding the growing tensions between the two nations. The president of t
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was raised to power again but failed to gain majority seats. The party got the most seats as compared to other parties but the results were similar to the election two years back. The party was leading with 157 seats which were the same as their win in 2019. According to a report, they were short by 170 seats to win a majority in the House of Commons. With 121 seats, the conservatives were elected which was again similar to their number in 2019. With 29 seats, the leftist New Democrats were leading with a gain of five seats. Quebec-based Bl
The Philippines is encouraging the United States, Britain, and Australia to form a new defense partnership. It hopes that it will help to maintain a power balance in the Indo-Pacific region. This view contrasts sharply with that of some of its neighbors. The AUKUS deal is the alliance with Australia to get the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of the agreement intended to respond to growing Chinese power. On Tuesday, Philippines Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin said in a statement that the enhancement of a near-abroad ally’s ability to project power will be restored
Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the United States this week. He is scheduled to arrive on September 22 in Washington DC followed by the meeting with the top US CEOs next morning. He has a marathon schedule and will hold a series of high high-profile meetings. Modi’s meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook is also on the cards. After conducting back-to-back meetings with top business experts, the Prime Minister is also expected to meet the US Vice President Kamala Harris. According to the officials, the meetings are yet to be confirmed and the details are omitted.
The meeting scheduled for this week between the Defence Minister Florence Parly and her British counterpart Ben Wallace was canceled by France amid the submarine row. The conclusion was the aftermath of the US, Australia and UK sparked a full-blown diplomatic crisis with France. They announced a strategic partnership in which US nuclear submarines will be supplied to Australia sidelining France. Outrage erupted last week in Paris over Australia's decision to scrap a nuclear-powered submarine contract with France. UK’s former British ambassador to France, Lord Ricketts who was supposed to
According to an independent investigation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva manipulated a report at the World Bank to avoid angering China during her previous job. In the 2018 and 2020 editions, the World Bank announced that it was immediately discontinuing its Doing Business report after the found irregularities in the investigation. In October 2019, Georgieva took the helm of IMF, disagreed with its conclusions regarding her role. In her statement, she said that she fundamentally disagrees with the findings and interpretations of the Investigation of
On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi will lead the Indian delegation and address a plenary session at the meeting of the Council of Head of State at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Dushanbe. The meeting is scheduled to be held virtually. For the first time, the 21st meeting of the SCO Council of Head of State will be held in a hybrid format. It will be chaired by Tajikistan President Emmomali Rahmon. This will be India’s fourth summit where it will participate as a full-fledged member of SCO. On Wednesday, in a statement, the ministry of external affairs said that
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud is scheduled to arrive in India on September 19. Prince will hold a meeting with EAM Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and call on Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. Prince will discuss the unfolding situation in Afghanistan as Qatar has taken the lead over the diplomatic engagement in Kabul and towards legitimizing the Taliban. India along with Saudi Arabia and UAE is worried about the security's consequence of the medieval theocratic state of Afghanistan. The country's ties with the global jihadist n
Malaysian King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al Mustafa Billah Shah said that he will welcome and appreciate the bipartisan cooperation that is being forged by the new government and the opposition party of the country. On Monday, in royal decree at the parliament, King said that he welcomed and appreciated the efforts towards realizing dual-partisan cooperation involving all sides that will build a new political landscape and bring changes in the country’s administrative system. He further added that maturity like this is what the people want. Under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Ya