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The Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue fell flat at the 74th UN General assembly. He raved and ranted about the so-called “plight” of the people of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the Assembly did not pay heed to the Pakistani Prime Minister’s speech. Imran Khan then raised the issue of war and even the ‘nuclear’ word was used by him. This has become part of the narrative of Pakistani leaders to attract attention. The Pakistani leader found no support from the US administration too. The US State Department in fact criticised the Pakistan Prime Minister for not highlighting the plight of the Uyghurs the same way he spoke about the Kashmiris. Alice Wells, US Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, termed Mr. Khan’s comments on Kashmir as “unhelpful”. She said, “A lowering of rhetoric would be welcome, especially between the two nuclear powers.” Ms. Wells also questioned why the Pakistan Prime Minister did no...

Like the weather in Sri Lanka this season, its political landscape has been marked by similar vagaries. The country is gearing up for the forthcoming Presidential elections on November 16th. The overall campaign scene in Sri Lanka so far has been quite muted, if not dull. Considering that at stake in this exercise is the election to the most powerful office under the country’s constitution, it is unusual, but not surprising. One reason for the lack of sufficient public interest is that the country is still coming out of the dastardly terrorist attacks of Easter Sunday. Many Sri Lankans feel that the two main political parties have little to offer that is new or exciting. Former Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse, who is also the former President Mahinda Rajapakse’s younger brother, was quite prompt in throwing his hat in the ring. As early as the beginning of the year, he had announced his plans to forego his American citizenship and resume Sri Lankan nationality to be able to cont...

    India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi addressed the general debate of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, on the theme of ‘effective international cooperation for poverty eradication, inclusion and climate action’. Four years ago, on 25th September 2015, the Prime Minister had joined world leaders at the Special Summit of the UNGA to adopt ‘Agenda 2030’ on Sustainable Development. India’s success in achieving her nationally set development goals had been projected as a major contribution to the successful implementation of Agenda 2030, with its over-arching goal of eradicating poverty. The address by Prime Minister Modi gave ample substance to this projection. It detailed several initiatives which had an impact on both poverty eradication and inclusion and gave the world “a new hope”. These included the world’s biggest financial inclusion scheme, the Jan Dhan Yojana initiative that opened 370 million bank accounts in 5 years to empower India’s poorer populati...

The External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar was on a three-day visit to Finland. This is his first visit to the Nordic country after assuming office; although high-level visits have been a common feature of the traditionally vibrant relations since the 1950’s. More than focussing on the bilateral relations, which are already warm and cordial, the visit assumes significance from the fact that Finland is the current chair of the European Union and that India seeks to garner international support to condemn terrorism which has seen an increasing presence in its neighbourhood. Dr. Jaishankar held detailed discussions on cross-border terrorism with the top Finnish leadership. The discussions were held amid Pakistan's endeavour to manufacture fabricated stories on Kashmir after India revoked Article 370 related to Jammu and Kashmir. He also held talks with Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne and his counterpart Pekka Haavisto in Helsinki on a broad spectrum of bilateral rel...

India’s historic and warm relations with the countries of the Caribbean witnessed a new momentum with the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with 14 leaders of the CARICOM group of countries on side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Mr. Allen Chastenet, Prime Minister of St Lucia and current Chairman of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) co-chaired the meeting. The meeting was attended by the Heads of Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Vice President of Suriname, and Foreign Ministers of Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Haiti and Guyana. It was the first-ever meeting of Prime Minister Modi with CARICOM leaders in a regional format and highlighted the steadily intensifying and deepening relations between India and partner countries of the Caribbean. India is firmly committed to strengthening political, economic and cultural engagement with CARICOM. The prese...

There is no other leader in the contemporary world who can be compared to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in exercising charm in the realm of diplomacy. Wherever he goes he charms the leaders, lawmakers and the people and makes them a closer partner of India. This ability of the Prime Minister was on display to the world in the recently concluded Houston event. He has already met one-on-one with American President Donald Trump six times since Mr. Trump entered the Oval Office and this in itself is a historical record in the evolving Indo-US relations. The latest one-on-one dialogue between Mr. Modi and President Trump took place on Monday in New York where both the leaders have gone to attend the United Nations General Assembly annual meet. The Indo-US bilateral meeting in the largest venue for multilateral diplomacy caught global attention. It was relatively a short meeting between the two leaders but, has several key takeaways. The notable physical chemistry between Mr. Mo...

The 16-year-old environmental activist from Sweden – Greta Thunberg’s, crying appeal has shaken the conscience of the world leaders assembled at UN in New York. “The eyes of all future generations are upon you. If you choose to fail us, I say, we will never forgive you,” she challenged the world leaders. Climate Change is the single largest threat to human existence today. Unabated changes in the climate system would bring devastating consequences to the entire world. “We must accept that if we have to overcome a serious challenge like climate change, then what we are doing at the moment is just not enough,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the world leaders. “What we need is a global people’s movement to bring about behavioural change,” he said. “Need, not greed has been our guiding principle,” Mr. Modi told the world body’s special summit and said, India has come “not just to talk” about the seriousness of this issue, but to present a “practical approach and...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States started on a tremendous high with the highly successful “Howdy Modi” event in Houston, Texas; where he shared the stage with President Donald Trump and addressed a crowd of more than 50,000 Indian-Americans. The Prime Minister has addressed the Indian America community in the US before- at the Madison Square Gardens in New York in 2014 and in San Jose in 2015, but President Trump’s presence put the Houston event in a qualitatively higher category. The presence of several Congressmen and Senators including senior Democrat, Congressman Steny Hoyer underlined the bipartisan nature of support for the India- US partnership. While introducing President Trump, Prime Minister Modi thanked him warmly for his presence at an event that represented the “heartbeat of two largest democracies.” Addressing him as “my friend, a friend of India and a great American President” he expressed admiration for the President’s leadership and re...

President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga is on a State visit to India. He is visiting the country at the invitation of President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind. This seems to be the first visit of any Mongolian President to India during about a decade. The President of Mongolia is accompanied by a high-level delegation consisting of government authorities and business leaders. The visiting President Mr. Battulga held wide-ranging discussions with President Kovind. In honour of the visiting President, a banquet was hosted by the Indian President. Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu also called the Mongolian President. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held delegation level talks with President Battulga. The discussion between the Indian Prime Minister and Mongolian President, the two countries covered a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues. The issue of bilateral cooperation in capacity building, defence, security, infrastructure, energy, disaster management and cultural exchan...

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to get the first air dominance Rafale fighter jet from French Dassault Aviation in the second week of next month. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be in France to receive the first Rafale jet. The IAF would train 24 pilots in three different batches for flying the Rafales till May next year. The first batch of jets will arrive in India during that time. The decision of urgent procurement of Rafale is very logical as over the years Defence strategists in New Delhi were grappling with the question of how to replace hundreds of obsolete IAF MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 fighters that have been steadily retired from service. Moreover, developments in India’s immediate neighbourhood over the past decades and ever increasing cross border terrorism led Indian leadership to concentrate on the urgency of Defence procurement. Recent times have also witnessed a paradigm shift in India’s Defence policy from confining itself only in theory of refrain and deter...

The recent drone attacks on the world’s largest crude facilities of Abqaiq and Khurais near Dammam, which is operated by the Saudi oil giant ARAMCO has led to escalation of existing US-Iran tensions in Gulf. This has instigated the biggest spike in global oil prices since the Gulf war of 1991. Yemen based’ Ansar Allah’ (Houthi) forces claimed responsibility for the attacks in which no injuries were reported and warned Saudi Arabia that the Houthi attacks in the Kingdom would be broadened further. This is not the first attack aimed at Saudi oil facilities, last month, Saudi Arabia’s other major oil field Shaybah was also targeted in a drone attack by the Houthis. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) termed the incident as a terrorist attack and said Saudi Arabia is willing and able to confront this act of aggression. In the wake of the high impact attacks, Riyadh shut down its oil pipeline that carries 0.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of Arab Light crude from Saudi Aramco...

The sixteenth round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Iran was held in Tehran this week in the backdrop of an extremely worrisome regional scenario caught up in strategic disarray. India’s Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale led the Indian delegation while Iranian side was led by its’ Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Seyyed Abbas Araghchi. Mr. Gokhale also held discussions with Dr. Javad Zarif, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati, Senior Advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.  Both sides re-assessed the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation including ongoing connectivity and infrastructure development projects like development of Shahid Behesthi Port, Chabahar and full operationalization of the Trilateral Transit Agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, regional issues were also discussed. The two sides expressed their commitment to maintain the momentum of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation and...

President Ram Nath Kovind was on, nine days tour of Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia to enhance the bilateral political and economic relations. India and Iceland signed agreements and MoU on fisheries collaboration, cultural cooperation, facilitating visa for officials and the creation of a Hindi Chair at the University of Iceland. Iceland is part of the Nordic group of countries and the Indian President acknowledged that Reykjavik can contribute in the areas of sustainable fishery, marine economy, shipping, green growth, energy, construction and agriculture sectors. Iceland holds the chair of the Artic Council, an intergovernmental organisation that focuses on sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic. Iceland has extended its support for India’s candidature for the UNSC. President Kovind also addressed the students at the University of Iceland on the theme: India-Iceland for a Green Planet and invited Iceland to join the International Solar Alliance. He in...

Pakistan is undergoing a tumultuous phase due to its obduracy over the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It has been snubbed by almost every global power, who have described the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution as India’s internal matter. Pakistan is now running from pillar to post in order to drum up support. However, that support seems elusive. In a recent interview to a private television channel, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan admitted that Islamabad cannot win a conventional war against India. He reiterated the nuclear threat and called for global attention on Kashmir. He had also warned the world, saying it would be responsible for the "catastrophic aftermath" if it fails to pay attention to India's nuclear arsenal. He added, he had informed the world that Pakistan does not want war, but at the same time, Pakistan cannot remain oblivious to the challenges posed to its security and integrity. He also admitted that Islamabad is goin...

Land is a critical resource. It provides the principal basis for human livelihoods and well-being including supply of food, freshwater and numerous other ecosystem services, as well as biodiversity. Land also plays an important role in the climate system. Over decades, unprecedented use of land and freshwater usage due to population growth has led to degradation of land. Combined pressures of agricultural and livestock production, urbanisation, deforestation, and extreme weather events, particularly drought, have accelerated the process. Humans affect more than 70 percent of ice-free land. Land degradation and desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem to most countries. Desertification is a form of land degradation, by which fertile land becomes desert. To address these changes and find ways to overcome the challenges, around 9,000 delegates from 197 countries participated in a major conference from September 2 at a suburb adjoining Delhi. The 14th...

Taliban had constituted a fourteen member peace delegation earlier this year which was tasked with the difficult peace negotiations with the United States. The negotiations were supposed to go ahead even as the war on the ground between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban went ahead. Given the nature of Taliban’s attacks that were often indiscriminate and targeted civilians, keeping the talks on track was difficult from the beginning. The aim of the dialogue was to build a broad-based political structure that would accommodate the aspirations of the Taliban and the other sections like the mainstream political system in Kabul. The main issue in the talks however was the counter-terrorism guarantee that Taliban leaders had to give to the US; that Afghanistan would not revert back to the late 1990s when it emerged as a host to international terror networks. As a mechanism to ensure continued adherence to the counter terrorism guarantee, the American government reportedly demand...

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) meeting was held at Bangkok recently. It took place under the shadow of US-China trade war and the economic face-off between Japan and South Korea. India had skipped the previous RCEP meeting held last month. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal participated in the crucial event. This was for stimulating India’s dynamism in global economic operations. Mr. Goyal participated in the ministerial meeting with a host of agendas of the country's multilateral and bilateral negotiations with other member nations of the grouping. RCEP comprises of ten members Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and six other regional nations, viz., India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. It may be noted that the organization was formed to galvanize the prospects of a free trade regime in the entire ASEAN and its’ nearby region. The joint statement issued by the 16 participating nations after the 7th minist...

Marking his first set of bilateral visits to the ASEAN region after assuming office, India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Indonesia and Singapore. During the first leg of his South-east Asian tour, Dr. Jaishankar held talks with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi. Another important rendezvous was his meeting with the Gen (Retd) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs. The two Ministers discussed greater avenues of cooperation between India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Indonesia’s Aceh Island. Indonesia is a close maritime neighbour of India with the southernmost tip of India less than 90 miles away from Indonesia’s northernmost point. Maritime cooperation between the two leading countries of South and Southeast Asia holds immense importance. India’s ‘Act East’ Policy and Indonesia’s ‘Global Maritime Fulcrum’ are complementary in nature. Both countries value and promote ASEAN’s centrality and unity. This is particula...

With the aim to move a resolution on Kashmir at the 42nd meeting of the United Nations Human Rights  Council   (UNHRC) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made a desperate attempt to internationalize the Kashmir issue but failed badly. Pakistan would need the support of 24 nations out of the 47 member group and despite its efforts, it has failed to even garner support to file a request for an urgent debate at the UNHRC. It has to note that while a debate can be requested at any time throughout the session, the last date to file a request for a resolution on Kashmir is September 19. India opted not to send a Minister to Geneva indicating that it is not giving too much importance to the issue. However, it strongly rebutted Pakistan’s claim and remarks as "offensive rhetoric", "false allegations" and "concocted charges". Shah Mahmood Qureshi again attempted to raise the Kashmir issue claiming human rights violations and demanded a joint in...

India and Nepal achieved yet another milestone in their bilateral relations when the Prime Ministers of both countries jointly inaugurated South Asia’s first ever cross border petroleum products pipeline from Motihari in Bihar state of India to Amlekhgunj in Nepal through video conference. The 69-kilometre long pipeline, which is 32.7 kilometres on the Indian side and 37.2 kilometres in Nepal has a capacity of uninterrupted supply of two million tonnes of clean petroleum products to the people of Nepal annually. Describing this as a symbol of close bilateral relations between India and Nepal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline project will help enhance energy security of the region and substantially cut down on transit costs. He noted with satisfaction that regular exchanges at the highest political level have laid down a forward looking agenda for expanding India-Nepal partnership. Inaugurating the project from New Delhi, Mr. Modi expressed confi...