Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Bhutan’s Foreign Secretary, Aum Pema Choden, on the final day of her two-day India visit, called on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The two held discussions on India’s support for Bhutan’s development aspirations. “Pleased to receive Foreign Secretary Aum Pema Choden of Bhutan after the India-Bhutan Development Cooperation Talks this evening. Discussed our support for Bhutan’s development aspirations,” tweeted Jaishankar. At the invitation of Kwatra, she paid an official visit to India from July 28 to 29. The Bhutan’s foreign secretary met Jaishankar after co-chairing India-Bhutan Development Cooperation Talks with her Indian counterpart Vinay Kwatra. Kwatra discussed with…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Working towards the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jammu and Kashmir government led by the Lieutenant Governor has taken many steps both small and big to bring the valley’s people closer to the government. According to a statement, after 2019, J-K has witnessed profound ameliorative, affirmative and progressive changes in the last four years encompassing its entire governance — including development activities, public administration and security matters. “Besides this, Jammu and Kashmir have witnessed a sharp decline in unemployment, and a drastic improvement in employment”, a press release said. With sustainable and inclusive development initiatives taken by…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Friday attended the Maldives Independence Day reception hosted by its High Commission in Delhi. He noted that India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and Maldives’ India First policies are in sync. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Muraleedharan stated, “Happy to join The Maldives’ Independence Day reception hosted by its HC in New Delhi Conveyed my greetings to HC H.E. Ibrahim Shaheeb, government & people of India’s Neighbourhood First & Maldives’ India First policies are in sync, elevating the relationship to higher level. On Wednesday, External Affairs Minister S…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s military may be planning to build a host of overseas naval bases, as it hopes to protect shipping routes and strengthen its ability to resist sanctions from the US and its allies, analysis has found. Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Bata in Equatorial Guinea and Gwadar in Pakistan are the three most likely locations for a Chinese naval base to be established in the next two to five years, according to an analysis by AidData, a US-based research institute, published on Wednesday. The report’s authors considered the amount of development financing issued by Chinese state-owned banks to port…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi and the two countries have started coordinating their positions in an attempt to frame a consensus document for the Summit of the G20 leaders, sources have told The Indian Express. Japan’s role is crucial since it currently chairs the G7 grouping which has been the most vocal over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the G20 chair, India is working with Japan and other G7 countries on the one side, and Russia-China on the other side to formulate the G20 leaders’ declaration in Delhi.…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a move to enhance connectivity in the northeastern region of India, Indian Railways has allocated substantial investments for infrastructure development. Recently, the Railway Board granted approval for the Final Location Survey (FLS) of the Zubza (Nagaland)–Imphal (Manipur) new rail line project, spanning 140 km. The new Zubza–Imphal rail line project will establish direct connectivity between the states of Nagaland and Manipur. When completed, the project is expected to boost mobility of railway traffic, benefiting both passenger and freight services, an official release from Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) stated. NFR stated that the reduced time, cost, and distance…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Micron Technology Chief Sanjay Mehrotra called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and discussed plans to bolster the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem within India. The Micron Technology Chief met the Prime Minister in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar. He is in India to attend the three-day ‘SemiconIndia 2023’ conference, which kicked off here on Friday. The conference, its second edition, organised by India Semiconductor Mission in partnership with industry and industry associations, is aimed to make India a global hub for semiconductor design, manufacturing and technology development. SemiconIndia was held in Bengaluru last year. The theme of the Conference is ‘Catalysing…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that Japan has had a huge impact on India and in many ways, Japan is an “exemplary moderniser’ for India. Speaking at the India-Japan Forum in the presence of Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Jaishankar said: “What really does Japan means to India? Japan is in many ways the exemplary moderniser… It is an example of relevance. It’s also a country for which there is a lot of goodwill in history. Today under PM Modi, we also had great modernisation. A self-reliant India. Japan is a natural…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India and Britain could sign a free trade agreement (FTA) this year as both countries have reached consensus on the broad contours of the proposed deal aiming to boost economic growth and jobs, a top trade ministry official said. “We want to finalise the deal at the earliest,” Sunil Barthwal, India’s commerce secretary, told reporters on Friday. He said that on almost all contentious issues, negotiations were completed, and the deal could be signed “much before” the end of the year. India sees an FTA with Britain as crucial to hopes of becoming a bigger exporter, while the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that India’s G20 Presidency has witnessed country’s focusing attention on pressing challenges faced by humanity, particularly developing nations. Jaishankar made the remarks a day after his speech in the Rajya Sabha was disrupted due to the protest of the opposition leaders. He issued a 21-minute statement on the recent developments of India’s foreign policy on Friday. “The ongoing G20 Presidency has witnessed our focusing attention on the pressing challenges faced by humanity, especially developing countries. This included Mission LiFE for empowering climate friendly lifestyles and the popularization of Millets to…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun today said the government is working to promote ship recycling industry to international standard. “Ship recycling industry is a promising sector for Bangladesh. In this industry, Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in terms of environmental, occupational and health safety. We are working to promote the industry to international standard,” he said. The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the ‘Shipbuilding, Shipbreaking and Green Ship Recycling’ session of the “5th International Marinetech Bangladesh Expo and Dialogue-2023” at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the city, said a press…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India has described as “unacceptable” China issuing stapled visas to some sportspersons from Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that it reserves the right to “suitably respond” to such actions. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said today that India has already lodged its “strong protest” with the Chinese side on the matter. Mr Bagchi said it has come to the government’s notice that stapled visas were issued to some Indian citizens who were to represent the country at an international sporting event in China. This is unacceptable and we have lodged our strong protest with the Chinese side reiterating…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has decided to form a high-powered committee, comprising three vice-chancellors and officers from security agencies, to investigate the Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) scandal. An official from the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) was detained by Punjab Police earlier this week, in Pakistan on suspicion of drug abuse. The chief of security at the university was held the day before the arrest for reportedly having crystal meth and offensive recordings and pictures of IUB students and employees, according to a Dawn report. The HEC Chairman Mukhtar Ahmed told the National Assembly Standing…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Pakistan’s Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik said on Thursday that four Pakistani public entities signed three memorandums of understanding to raise the necessary local equity for a multibillion-dollar Saudi refinery project, as well as an engineering, procurement, and construction contract with a Chinese firm, according to Arab News. The USD 12 billion Saudi project, with a capacity of 350,000-450,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was first agreed upon during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2019 visit to Islamabad. Pakistan State Oil, Oil and Gas Development Co., Pakistan Petroleum Ltd., and Government Holdings Private Ltd.…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: With an eye on growing Chinese assertiveness, foreign minister S Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi in a meeting emphasised the crucial role of strong and enduring partnership between India and Japan in ensuring a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. The two leaders also underlined the importance of achieving the target of JPY 5 trillion Japanese investment in India in the period 2022-27, exploring potential areas of collaboration in critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors and resilient supply chains. “The ministers also discussed cooperation under multilateral and plurilateral frameworks, including Quad. They agreed on the need…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday made a suo motu statement on “latest developments in India’s foreign policy” in both Houses of Parliament amid sloganeering by Opposition members demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address on the Manipur issue. Listing the overseas engagements by the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister, Jaishankar said India’s stature has been rising globally and the country is emerging as a “credible and effective” development partner. The minister spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States and the key outcomes of it. He also spoke about the PM’s…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping did discuss the need to stabilise bilateral relations at the G20 summit in Bali last November, a day after China’s foreign ministry claimed that the two leaders reached a “consensus” on the issue at the time. That the two leaders spoke about the border situation at the summit was not mentioned by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra during his briefing to the press in Bali on 16 November 2022. At a weekly press briefing Thursday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “During…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In its latest move in the crackdown on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), police raided and sealed the party leader Zulfi Bukhari in Islamabad, however, no arrest was made, ARY News reported on Wednesday. Sources told ARY News that at the time of the raid, Bukhari was not present at his residence. Taking to Twitter, Bukhari said that police and unidentified men raided and sealed his house in the presence of the Assistant Commissioner & Deputy Commissioner. “In an extremely low move, police, CDA & unidentified men raided and sealed my house in the presence of the Assistant Commissioner &…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday morning left here for home wrapping up her visit to Italy. A regular flight of Qatar Airways, carrying the premier and her entourage members, departed Rome Fiumicino Airport at 09:40am local time (01:40pm BST). The flight is scheduled to land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 02:05am after making a stopover at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Hasina travelled to Rome on June 23 to attend the United Nations Food Systems Summit+2 Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) at the invitation of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres. Some 2000 participants…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Amid struggling mandarin farming, some of the farmers have switched to Avocado cultivation in the Gomdar Gewog of Bhutan as an alternative source of income. This comes as the farmers suffered a devastating blow to their mandarin orchards due to a citrus disease outbreak. Moreover, the avocado farming has already started to yield positive results for some of the farmers. Notably Gomdar Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar, Bhutan Live reported. Mandarin was the main source of income for families in Gomdar Gewog for a long time. However, the citrus greening outbreak wreaked havoc, destroying the crops and causing huge…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The first-ever Global Food Regulators Summit (GFRS) 2023 in the national capital has paved the way for a more robust food safety and regulatory ecosystem, according to an official release. The initiative has garnered global acclaim for its potential to transform and strengthen the world’s food safety systems. The discussion and outcomes of the sessions have laid a strong foundation for collective action in tackling regulatory challenges and ensuring the well-being of consumers worldwide, the statement added. The first technical session of the summit focused on food regulatory systems in different countries, key strategies adopted by food regulators…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In honour of Kargil Vijay Diwas, a team of mountaineers from the Indian Army’s Dagger Division achieved a remarkable feat by scaling Mount Kun in record time and performing Yoga at its summit, which stands at an impressive height of 7,077 metres. “The journey commenced on July 8, when the team was flagged off from Baramulla by Maj Gen Rajesh Sethi, SM, VSM, GOC 19 Infantry Division. Setting off from the base camp on July 11, the brave mountaineers led by Col Rajneesh Joshi achieved their long-awaited victory as they summited Mount Kun on the 18th of July…

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday arrived in Rome to attend the UN Food Systems Summit at the invitation of the UN Secretary-General. The three-day summit will open at Italy’s capital city on Monday, July 24. The premier and her entourage flew from Dhaka by a regular flight of Qatar Airways. It landed at Rome Fiumicino Airport at 1:40pm local time (05:40 pm BST). The flight earlier departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 05:05am. The summit titled ‘United Nations Food Systems +2 Stocktaking Moment’ (UNFSS+2) will be held at the Headquarters of Food and Agriculture Organization…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China ordered its largest cities to step up preparations for future medical emergencies by building leisure and recreational facilities that can be used for quarantine during a pandemic, several months after the leadership abandoned its zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19. The so-called “dual emergency and normal use” facilities will be “actively” built in megacities across the country, the official Xinhua news agency cited Vice Premier He Lifeng as saying during a conference on Thursday. The facilities will be used for tourism, recreation and healthcare in normal times. During emergencies, they will serve as medical treatment and quarantine centers as…