Diplomacy

“Upender Singh Rawat, Ambassador of India designate to the Republic of Panama will be concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Nicaragua, with residence in Panama City,” the Ministery of External Affairs had said in a release on October 18.

“I owe India an apology, as when she suffered the Mumbai terror attack on November 26, 2008, when Jews and Americans were singled out for death by Pakistan-based-terrorists, I joined in arguing for ‘restraint’. I was wrong. Terror needs to be eradicated, so our rights and freedoms mean something,” Batra said.

This is the second time in a row that PM Narendra Modi will skip the summit, marking India’s transformation from a non-aligned country to one which is supposedly multi-aligned. Modi became effectively the first Indian PM to skip the meeting of heads of states and governments of NAM nations in 2016 when he gave the 17th summit, in Venezuela that year, the go-by.

New Delhi India and South Korea are looking to boost their business and defence ties through two upcoming meetings, including a “Strategic Economic Dialogue” this week that will serve as the umbrella for all economic cooperation.

People familiar with developments said Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, the Indian government’s policy think tank, and Lee Ho-seung, advisor on economic affairs to the South Korean president, will lead the dialogue in Delhi on October 24.

By the yearend, the two sides are expected to hold their first official-level “2+2” dialogue between their defence and foreign ministries, the people cited above said. The dates for the 2+2 dialogue, first mooted in a joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Seoul in 2015, are currently being finalised.

The two initiatives dovetail with India’s “Act East” policy and South Korea’s “New Southern Policy” and are aimed at giving fresh impetus to economic and security ties.

“The Strategic Economic Dialogue will become an umbrella for all economic cooperation between South Korea and India so that both countries complement each other and reap the benefits of synergised efforts for further sustainable growth,” said a person familiar with planning for the dialogue who declined to be named.

South Korea’s focus is to work with India to usher in the fourth industrial revolution and to use it for the benefit of both sides, the person added.

The dialogue is being held at a time when Samsung and other South Korean majors are exiting from or downsizing their operations in China because of rising production costs and tariffs. Though these firms are keen to invest in India, they face problems because of red tape and cumbersome procedures and this has resulted in greater investments in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, the people said.

The upcoming 2+2 dialogue, in addition to looking at ways to boost regional cooperation, will finalise a “defence industry roadmap” to facilitate South Korean investments in India’s defence manufacturing sector, the people added.

Cooperation in land systems, aero and naval systems, and research and development was discussed during defence minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to South Korea last month.

During the visit, the two sides signed a naval logistics sharing agreement that will help extend the reach of Indian warships. Such agreements cover replenishment of warships at sea and berthing facilities.

Last year, the Indian Army inducted the K9 Vajra 155mm self-propelled howitzers, which are being built by L&T with support from Hanwha Techwin of South Korea.

Chinese vice-foreign minister Luo Zhaohui will represent China while foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale is expected to represent India, sources said.

Speaking at the “Indian Defence & Airspace Summit”, Deputy Chief Mission of Russian Embassy Roman Babushkin said advanced level of Russian-Indian military and technical cooperation historically constitute one of the pillars of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

India and China are discussing an agreement on mutual recognition of degrees and exchange of faculty, an official statement said on Wednesday as education officials from the two countries met for the first time under a new bilateral mechanism.

peaking on the occasion, the President said that the potential for the Philippines-India economic collaboration is significant. Both countries share mutual complementarities which can be utilised to deepen trade and investment ties. He said that India’s “Make in India” and next-generation infrastructure programmes and the Philippines’ “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure initiative present immense opportunities for companies and investors on both sides.

The admiral observed that the IFC would enable development of comprehensive Maritime Domain Awareness and sharing of information on vessels of interest between partner nations. “We see this as something which will deliver real value in terms of its output: it will help us interface and integrate, and in so doing, we can all benefit from each other’s best practices and expertise.”