INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 2015
- After 50 years of diplomatic ties, India and Singapore to be strategic partners
After almost five decades of having diplomatic ties, India and Singapore will become strategic partners for the first time on 23rd November.
The partnership will encompass all aspects of bilateral ties from expansion of defence cooperation, enhancement of trade and investment and strengthening of regional relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The decision to sign the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Singapore was taken in August 2014 based on a ‘5S Plank’. Since then both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have been continuously discussing the contours of such a pact as they planned to take their relationship beyond just business and trade.
The pact will be signed with both leaders having a summit-level dialogue where all issues are expected to be discussed, with a special focus on India’s overall strategy in the Indian Ocean region.
Recently, at a meeting of the Fourth Joint Commission, which was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, issues such as maritime cooperation, trade ties and cyber security were discussed. While in Singapore, Modi is also expected to deliver the prestigious ‘Singapore Lecture’ at the Institute of South East Asian Studies.
Singapore has emerged as the second largest source of FDI amounting to $35.9 billion as of June 2015, which is 14 per cent of India’s total FDI inflow. India also has a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with Singapore with bilateral trade reaching $17.1 billion in 2014-15. - India-Malaysia sign key agreements
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23rd November said that India and Malaysia will deepen security and defence cooperation to combat terrorism. Many key agreements, that will give a boost to India-Malaysia relations, were signed after the talks.
The Indian Prime Minister also hoped bilateral trade and investment relations can be scaled up significantly. A MoU was signed on Performance Management Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) to ensure excellent cooperation in Public Administration and Governance. - India, Singapore sign strategic partnership to boost cooperation in key areas
India and Singapore signed several agreements on Strategic Partnership. It is a frame work to contribute to greater regional stability and growth, deepen existing areas of cooperation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsein Loong signed agreement.
Both the countries have also decided to enhance defence cooperation by signing revised Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA). As per DCA, both the countries agreed to establish a regular Defence Minister’s dialogue, defence cooperation in maritime security and encourage cooperation between defence industries of the two countries. Modi has invited Singapore to develop 20 smart cities in India. Narendra Modi has also said that India will upgrade 500 raliway stations on PPP mode and invited Singapore to invest on it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lee Hsein Loong have also released commemorative stamps depicting Rashtrapati Bhawan and Istana-Official residence of Singapore President-as a mark of 50 years of bilateral relation.
The two countries also signed several more agreements on mutual co-operation in the presence of both the Prime Ministers. These include Defence, Civil Aviation, National Planning and cyber Security.
Mr. Modi visited Institute of Technical Education in Singapore along with his Singaporean counterpart to know about vocational courses and skill development. Mr. Modi has visited maritime training, aerospace and precision engineering hubs. - Work shop on disaster risk reduction
According to Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr P K Mishra the disaster risk reduction is no longer a local phenomenon and global targets, regional plans, local strategies and implementation are required to address the issue. SAARC regional workshop on sharing best practices on disaster risk reduction was conducted in New Delhi on 27th November. In the summit he said that countries responding collectively are more important than responding individually.
He also expressed concern that there is always a huge gap between the discussions and implementation. Mr. Mishra said, there has been talk about disaster risk reduction, but in practice we have not been able to show successful examples. He said that efforts should be made to quantify the outcomes and targets should be defined in numbers. Mr. Mishra also said that fund-mobilization is not an issue these days, which used to be for decades earlier. - India and Bangladesh sign SOP for operationalising Agreement
India and Bangladesh on 15th November signed the Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, for operationalising the Agreement on Coastal Shipping. The agreement was signed in June this year, a move that will improve the bilateral trade between the two countries by reducing the logistic costs.
According to Road, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, once the SOP is operational, the Coastal Shipping Agreement will enable a huge saving in logistic costs of EXIM transport between the two countries. The SOP has been framed as per the terms and conditions of the Agreement on Coastal Shipping and both the countries have agreed to its provisions.
Bangladesh's Secretary of Shipping Shafique Alam Mehdi was also present on the occasion. The SOP will pave the way to promote coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh and would enhance bilateral trade by bringing down the cost of transportation of EXIM cargo.
It contains provisions which stipulate that India and Bangladesh shall render same treatment to other country's vessels as they would have done to their national vessels used in international sea transportation.
The two sides have also agreed upon the use of vessels of River Sea Vessel category for Indo-Bangladesh coastal shipping. The agreement will enable opening of coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh helping in enhancing the movement of cargo to the North East through coastal shipping up to Chittagong and thereafter by road/inland waterways.
The deep draft ports on the eastern coast of India can be hub ports for the onward transportation of cargo to Bangladesh via the coastal mode through RSV category of vessels. The Indian ports will attract enhanced cargo and also the overall transportation cost to Bangladesh will get reduced.
The Indian ports serving as trans-shipment ports for Bangladesh cargo will derive benefits by way of enhanced throughput as a result of Indo-Bangladesh coastal trade. - Nuclear deal procedures with Australia
India announced on 15th November that the procedures for a civil nuclear agreement with Australia for supply of uranium from it had been completed following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit, in Turkey.
Australia has about a third of world’s recoverable uranium resources and exports nearly 7,000 tonnes of it a year.Following the conclusion of the agreement, India will be the first country to buy Australian uranium without being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. - PM Modi bilateral talks on sidelines of G20 summit
Indian Prime Minister Modi held bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G20 Summit on 16th November with the President of the host country and the Prime Minister of Spain.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup the leader of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed keen interest in having the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with India.
He also showed interest in enhancing connectivity including air links and easy visa regime. Prime Minister Modi extended invitation for Turkey to invest in India’s infrastructure projects and highlighted the recent Foreign Domestic Investment reforms initiatives. Both agreed to take a serious look at the counter-terror mechanism. Mr Modi underscored the need to reforms in the UN Security Council.
On the bilateral meeting of Prime Minister Modi with Spain Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, there had been convergence of views between the two leaders on terrorism as both are long time victims of it. Mr Modi highlighted the position that terrorism should be duly defined by the UN. He also invited Spain to invest in India especially in speed train projects and to join hands in defence manufacturing and maritime security. Spain evinced keen interest on India’s renewable energy sector. - India, China agree to deepen defence ties, maintain peace at LAC
India and China have decided to deepen bilateral defence ties and maintain peace and tranquility at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The two countries also decided to strengthen cooperation against terror, including at the international level. The decisions came after a meeting between Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and General Fan Changlong, Vice-Chairman of China's powerful Central Military Commission (CMC). Gen. Fan is heading the highest-level Chinese defence delegation to visit India in recent years.
A Defence Ministry said both Mr. Parrikar and Gen. Fan condemned the recent terror strike in Paris and agreed to strengthen cooperation to fight the menace of terrorism, including at the international level. Mr. Parrikar also offered to share India's expertise in fighting terrorism by way of joint exercises, among other initiatives. - India, Bangladesh to cooperate on intelligence sharing, border security
India has assured Bangladesh of sharing information on militancy, and both countries have agreed to work together to reduce insurgency and terrorism through bilateral understanding and intelligence-sharing. Both countries have also agreed to reduce border killings to zero and effectively combat human trafficking and drug smuggling.
On the first day of the bilateral talks on 16th November, the Joint Working Group headed by the Joint Secretaries of both countries discussed issues on security co-operation, effective border management, improving border trade infrastructure, arms, drugs and human trafficking, and problems relating to the recently abolished enclaves.
India raised the issues of influx of fake Indian currency, cattle smuggling, and illegal infiltration and sought Dhaka's co-operation to completely stop these activities. Bangladesh spoke strongly for the need to end border killings and handing over top Bangladeshi criminals hiding in India. - Govt clears pact on promotion of German as additional foreign language in KVs
The Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval to the Joint Declaration of Intent between the Human Resource Development Ministry and Federal Foreign Office of Germany for promotion of German as an additional foreign language in Kendriya Vidyalayas. It has also given ex post facto approval to the MoU between India and Germany on Security Cooperation.
The other decisions taken by the Cabinet include ex-post facto approval to the signing of….- MoU between the Civil Aviation Ministries of India and Germany for carriage of In-flight Security Officers on board the flight,
- Tripartite Agreement among India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA), on the IBSA Fund for the alleviation of poverty and hunger and
- Protocol amending the agreement between India and Kuwait for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion.
- India, China to Form Ministerial Mechanism to Tackle Terror
India and China on 19th November agreed to form a ministerial-level mechanism headed by their home ministers for the first time to step up cooperation and coordination on a host of security-related issues, including cross-border terrorism, smuggling and drug trafficking.
The decision to form the ministerial mechanism was agreed upon after Home Minister Rajnath Singh's talks in Beijing with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Interior Minister Guo Shengkun.
The ministerial mechanism which would be followed by a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the security-related issues to be worked out, will become operational during Guo's visit to India next year, Singh told the media in Beijing after his meetings with Li and Guo.
The committee will handle issues like terrorism, security and law enforcement related issues, transborder crimes, cyber crimes and drug trafficking. The committee will meet every year to review the progress, Mr Singh said.
The decision by the two countries to deepen cooperation relating to terrorism comes in the backdrop of the Paris terrorist attacks and killing of Chinese and Norwegian hostages by Islamic State terrorists. The ministerial mechanism would be assisted by a working level mechanism headed by joint secretary level officials of both the countries, Singh said expressing satisfaction over the steady improvement of cooperation between the two nations.
Besides various aspects of security issues, the mechanism significantly would focus on cross border terrorism and information-sharing on terrorism which India and China face from a "joint source" - Pakistan.
While India faces cross border terrorism emanating from Pakistan in Kashmir, China faces the same problem with East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Xinjiang-based al-Qaeda- backed outfit which has bases in Pakistan's tribal areas.
India has agreed to China's suggestion that in view of the shared desire on both sides to upgrade the cooperation in security related issues, there should be a framework agreement, he said.
While reluctant to spell out the details on China working out such an agreement with India, considering its close ties with Pakistan, Singh however said it is the culmination of consensus between leadership on both sides about the positive direction of the relations between the two countries.
Both sides agreed on the necessity of maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border while moving towards an early settlement. - UK joins hand with govt to develop 3 smart cities in India
The British Government has selected two cities of Maharashtra and one from Madhya Pradesh for developing them as 'Smart City', British Deputy High Commissioner, Mumbai, Kumar Iyer said on 20th November. The cities in Maharashtra include Pune and Amravati and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. - ASEAN is largest investment partner of India: PM
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 13th Asean India Summit at Malaysian capital Kuala Lampur on 21st November
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, his government's aim is not mere reform but reform to transform.
Addressing the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Modi said, India has embarked upon a path of fiscal consolidation. He said, sentiment for private and foreign investment has turned positive. He said winds of change prevail in India.
The Prime Minister said intellectual property rights Policy will come in force by the end of the year and all rights of innovators will be protected. The PM further termed India and ASEAN countries as natural partners.
PM said that despite cutting fiscal deficit, India has substantially increased public productive investment. PM said that the aim of reforms for his government is to transform India. - India, China to enhance cooperation
India and China have shared opinion during a bilateral meeting held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Chinese counterpart Li Kequiang. The bilateral talks with China focused on counter terrorism strategies and economic ties, while the talk with Japan focused on expansion of special strategic partnership.
According to spokesperson in External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swaroop global economy, climate change and International terrorism figured during the Prime Minister’s talks with China. With Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the talks focused on proposals of economic activities in various fields besides South China Sea dispute. - PM Modi invites Malaysia, Singapore and other Asean countries to invest
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Malaysia, Singapore and other Asean countries to invest in infrastructure projects in India. Addressing ASEAN -Business Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Modi said winds of change prevail in India.
He said India has opened Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Insurance, Defence and Railways. FDI policy has been relaxed in construction, plantation and Media. Assuring that all rights of innovators will be protected
He listed out a series of measures that his government taken on the reforms front on the occasion. The Prime Minister has laid emphasis on reforms for transformation of India with an aim to bring the fruits of development to the bottom of the demography.
Stating that India has immense potentiality for infrastructure development, he said 50 cities in the country are ready for Metro Rail Projects and the Government is committed to build 50 million houses in the next few years providing lot of employment for skilled as well as semi-skilled and poor.
The Prime Minister said concentrated steps are being taken for institutional reforms and emphasizing implementation of the tax reforms. Mr Modi exuded hope that the Goods and Services Tax Act, is expected to be rolled out by early next year. A bill has already been introduced in Parliament.
He assured that all facilities would be provided to genuine and honest investors under the provisions. Exuding confidence that the 21st Century belongs to Asia and Asian countries will become economic powerhouse zones in the world. - Fast track system developed to help UK companies invest in India
The department of industrial promotions and policies in India has developed a general agreement with its counterpart in the United Kingdom on a fast track system for easy clearance to the UK companies investing in India. According to Indian High Commissioner to UK Mr. Ranjan Mathai the Britain is the largest investor from amongst the G-20 countries in India.
The fast track system will help UK companies investing in India. Ranjan Mathai said that Indian companies have also invested very heavily more in UK than most of the European Union combined.
The Indian High Commissioner further said all India and UK bi-lateral relations including concerns on security issues and investments in Green Power and new and renewable energy sources will also be discussed between the delegations of Indian and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Indian origin MP in UK Mr. Keith Vaz has termed
During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to London, many new areas of cooperation for building our economic partnership under Make in India agenda will be deliberated upon. He said joint ventures in Airbus technology are also on the anvil during the talks. - India, UK to sign deals worth £9 billion
The signing of a civil nuclear deal, deeper cooperation on clean energy and climate change, the release of a Railway rupee bond, and the conversion of London into a centre for rupee-denominated Masala Bonds are among an estimated £9-billion worth of deals to be concluded during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day visit to the UK.
Following bilateral talks at 10 Downing Street with British Prime Minister David Cameron, on 12th November soon after Modi and British PM spoke of their firm intention to take the “bold and ambitious” vision of the strategic partnership to the next level.
Discussions encompassed British involvement in the development of digital cities, and roads, and developing London into a finance centre for the offshore trading of rupee-denominated bonds, as well as cooperation on low carbon, low-cost energy.
Other important points
Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the first bilateral visit to the country by an Indian prime minister since 2006.
India promised a new “fast-track mechanism” as the two sides firmed up at least 27 deals, covering sectors ranging from banking to energy, skill development to environment.
The UK said it plans to invest in three Indian smart cities and the two sides also announced the signing of a civilian nuclear agreement.
The UK accounted for 8.56 per cent of total foreign direct investment in India during the last 15 years. Indian companies employ 110,000 people in the UK
The UK will participate in the International Fleet Review in India in February 2016.
Agreeing to intensify their political dialogue and hold regular bilateral summits, the two sides decided to support development in other regions of the world.
INDIAN FIRMS INVESTING IN THE UK- Indiabulls Housing Finance invests Rs 664 cr into Oak North Bank. It will be the bank’s single-largest shareholder, with nearly 40% stake
- TVS is opening Rs 201-cr advanced logistics facility in Barnsley, generating 100 new jobs, growing to 500 over five years
- Dexler is setting up Dexler Education UK, its European headquarters, with an investment of around Rs 100 cr
- LSE Group and YES Bank ink a deal to foster collaborations on bond and equity issuance
UK COMPANIES INVESTING IN INDIA- UK-listed OPG Power Ventures to add Rs 29,174 crore to its current investment in India
- Lightsource to invest Rs 20,120-crore to design, install and manage three gigawatts of solar power infrastructure in India over the next five years
- Vodafone will invest Rs 13,078 cr in a variety of companies, including a payments bank
- The King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Indo UK Healthcare sign an agreement to open King’s College Hospital in Chandigarh
- TCS partners British Council to train 1,000 university graduates in UK
India's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services, TCS, on 13th November said it has partnered British Council to train 1,000 university graduates in the UK at its Innovation Labs and Software Development Centres. The announcement comes during the UK visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Under the initiative, British university graduates will have the opportunity to spend a year training and working for TCS at its Innovation Labs and Software Development Centres across India between 2016 and 2020. The students will receive training in technical and commercial skills as well as digital and business skills.
TCS has been operating in the UK since 1975 and works with some of the UK's biggest businesses including 33 of the FTSE 100. It has more than 11,000 UK employees working across 30 locations in London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough, Swindon, Redhill and Liverpool. - Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri enters Manila
Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri, which is currently on operational deployment to South China Sea and North West Pacific region in pursuance of India's 'Act East' policy, on 1st November, entered Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
The visit of 'INS Sahyadri' is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing inter-operability between navies of the two countries. During the stay in the harbour, various activities aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two navies are planned including official calls on local naval and civilian dignitaries, reception on board the ship, the release said.
Visits to the ship by the local people, guided tours for Indian Naval personnel and professional interaction between personnel of both the navies, are among the other activities planned during this period. - India-Indonesia sign two MoUs
Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is on a five-day visit to Indonesia, met his Indonesian counterpart Jusuf Kalla on 2nd November.
They discussed the possibilities of expanding the cooperation in defence and counter-terrorism through intensification of existing mechanisms. Discussion also included ways to diversify and increase bilateral trade as well to encourage investments in each other's country through private sectors. India and Indonesia also signed two MoUs in Renewable Energy and Cultural exchange in Jakarta. In this MoU, both the countries committed themselves to reducing carbon emissions. - 7 South Asian nations team up to tackle black money
Seven countries in the South-Asian region may come together to set up a regional intelligence and coordination centre — to be called SARICC — to tackle the menace of money laundering and illicit financial flows.
This is the first time an attempt is being made to establish such a centre in South Asia, according to the Revenue Secretary of India Hasmukh Adhia, he said this at a conference titled ‘Networking the Networks’ on 2nd November. India — which holds a focal geographical point in the region — is conscious of its role and is spearheading this initiative so as to have a coordinated action against money laundering and illicit financial flows.
Besides India, the countries that are part of the initiative of setting up of the South Asian Regional Intelligence and Coordination Centre (SARICC) are Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Representatives of the seven countries will on Wednesday discuss threadbare the SARICC initiative and its terms of reference. However, both Pakistan and Afghanistan are notably absent from the initiative. - India Cultural Week opens in Shanghai
An Indian culture week was inaugurated on 5th November at China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) where India has been designated as a guest country for the first time.
The India culture week called "India in Shanghai" was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Ashok K Kantha along with Zhong Yanqun, Vice Chair of The Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress at the majestic Shanghai Grand Theatre.
China Shanghai International Arts Festival (CSIAF) is the only state-level International Arts Festival hosted by the Ministry of Culture of China and organized by Shanghai Municipal People's Government. This is the first time in the 17-year history of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival that India has been designated as the guest country during the festival.
The India Culture Week at China Shanghai Arts Festival aims to provide Chinese people a glimpse of the multi-faceted cultural traditions of India as well as enable a better understanding of India among Chinese people. The cultural performances are also expected to lead to a greater collaboration between Indian & Chinese performing Arts and corresponding institutions.
The India Culture Week in Shanghai has been brought together by the collective effort and support of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of Tourism and several leading companies engaged in promotion of India China bilateral trade and investments. - Cabinet clears MoU on tourism with Colombia
The Union Cabinet on 5th November gave its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between the Tourism Ministry and Ministry of Trade Industry and Tourism of Colombia for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.
The MoU aims at exchanging information and data related to tourism and expanding bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector.
Besides, the MoU will also help encourage cooperation between tourism stakeholders including Hotels and Tour operators and establish an exchange programme for cooperation in Human Resource Development. - India, China ink pacts on water resources, culture
India and China on 6th November signed two agreements including one in the field of water resources on sharing hydrological data on Satluj river. The agreements were signed after talks between Vice President Hamid Ansari and his visting Chinese counterpart Li Yuanchao in New Delhi. Li is the first Chinese Vice president to visit India in more than six decades.
While the pact in water resources was renewal of an agreement dealing with sharing hydrological data on Satluj, under the cultural pact, India will hold exhibition of art from the Gupta period, which was known as golden period in the country and during which famous Chinese traveller Fa Hien came.
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