INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS APRIL 2011

INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS APRIL 2011

• India and China on 13 April agreed to work towards removing all major irritants impacting bilateral relationship including the border issue and trade imbalance. At their first meeting this year, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to set up a mechanism on coordination and consultation on border affairs, resume senior-level defense exchanges, initiate a high-level economic dialogue for focused redress of investment and market access grievances and step up high-level contacts. 
• India and Russia will review safety issues with regard to their ongoing nuclear cooperation programme in the light of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan. If necessary, additional features would be incorporated in the two Russian-origin nuclear plants under construction at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu and the next two that would shortly come up at the same site. 
• China on 13 April 2011 stated that it would review its policy of issuing stapled visas to people of Jammu and Kashmir during the talk between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the President of China, Hu Jintao. India on its part lifted the deadlock on the defence exchanges which it imposed in 2010. India responded so after China refused a visa to an Indian general posted in Jammu and Kashmir. The relation between India and China has been a strained one because of the row over the stapled visas to people of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev agreed on a three-year Joint Action Plan. It details specific milestones in hydrocarbons, civilian nuclear energy, space, IT & cyber security, high-tech and innovative technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, agriculture and cultural exchanges. The two countries moved a step towards more intensive collaboration in nuclear energy with the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. They also inked a memorandum in the area of information security and India agreed to set up an Indian-Kazakhstan Centre of Excellence in the Eurasian University in Astana. 
• A package of three agreements signed between the national companies of India and Kazakhstan will give India access to the North Caspian Sea region which is in close proximity to major discoveries. The agreements will enable ONGC Videsh (OVL) to acquire 25 per cent equity from Kazmunaigas (KMG). 
• The India-Bangladesh border haats (markets) will be inaugurated in June this year that would boost bilateral trade. It has been decided to step up schedule for completion of border haats in Meghalaya for a formal launch in June. India and Bangladesh have agreed to take further steps to promote trade and economic cooperation. India has offered a tariff-free quota of 10 million pieces of apparel exports from Bangladesh, marking an increase of 25 per cent over previous years, while countervailing duties were lifted on all jute exports from Bangladesh. India has offered assistance in the construction of the bridge over river Feni, including the construction of the connecting road on the Bangladesh side. On the other hand, India has welcomed the offer of use of Chittagong and Mongola ports that would provide tremendous benefit for trade and development of Bangladesh and the North-East of India. 
• To deal with the menace of terrorism effectively, the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Defence Research and Development Organization, DRDO, on 26 April 2011 for the use of an explosive detection technology. The device has proved a success in insurgency and militancy affected areas in India. The DRDO is further developing the Explosive Detection Kit to meet the standards set by regulatory institutions in America, before introducing it in US Army and Homeland Security forces. The explosion detection kit can detect explosives of any combination based on TNT, dynamite or black powder. The technology is being widely used by the Bomb Detection Squads of the Indian Army, paramilitary and police in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 
• Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva came to India for his two day visit. Vejjajiva held a summit meeting with Manmohan Singh on April 5 at which both leaders agreed to give high priority to the proposed tri-lateral highway project linking India and Thailand through Burma. .In addition, the two prime ministers also agreed to take their already blooming relationship to the next level by finalizing bilateral agreements such as the Extradition Treaty, Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Civil and Commercial Matters and the Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons. They stated that they looked forward to the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit to be held in New Delhi next year. Finally, the joint statement issued at the end of the visit said the two sides had also agreed to double their current bilateral trade of $6.7 billion by 2014. This target can likely be easily achieved as the two sides are at an advanced stage of negotiations for a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement that should be finalized within the year. 
• India and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have agreed to conclude the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations by year-end. The EFTA states include Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It is an inter-governmental organisation that promotes free trade and economic integration between the four nations. Trade between Switzerland and India stood at $18 billion in 2010, up from $15 billion last year.