INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS JANUARY 2010

INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS JANUARY 2010

• India had decided to offer 100 fellowships every year over the next five years for agricultural students of Afghanistan to do Masters and Ph.D programmes in Indian Universities. 
• India signed an agreement with Angola to bid jointly for oil and gas projects in Angola. The oil and exploration agreement was signed between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to bid for oil acreage in Angola with the African nation's state owned Sonangol. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) offered to build a multi-billion dollar refinery in Angola. 
• India and South Korea signed four pacts in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting South Korean president Lee Myung-bak.
  
  They both agreed to facilitate development of a framework for civil nuclear cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)
  
  They set a $ 30-billion target for bilateral trade by 2014.They also agreed to improve political and security co-operation. 
• India and Bangladesh have given a final shape to the agreement for setting up a 130-km power transmission link to be established at a cost of Rs. 882 crore. The link would connect Behrampur in India and Behramara in Bangladesh.
• India and Malawi may enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the development of mineral resources, particularly uranium and coal. This possibility was explored during the recent visit of Indian delegation led by Vice-President Hamid Ansari to the Southern African Nation. Vice President ahs become the highest level Indian dignitory to visit the Malawi Nation, since its undependence in 1964. Earlier Indira Gandhi, the then information and broadcasting minister came for the country's first Independence Day function in 1964.
• India and Bangladesh signed five pacts during the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
  They are 
  1. Mutual assistance in criminal matters and transfer of sentenced persons
  2. Fight against terror
  3. Organized crime and illegal drug trafficking
  4. Power cooperation
  5. Cultural exchange programmes
• PM Manmohan Singh announced a $ 1 billion line of credit for Bangladesh which was the highest one-time line of credit assistance to any country by India.