INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2009

INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2009

• India and the U.S. agreed on enhancing and deepening trade and investment engagement, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) cooperation agreement and an agreement for putting in place traditional knowledge digital library.
  
  The two countries also issued a joint statement at the end of the Sixth Ministerial Level meeting of the India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum (TPF) to continue focus on agriculture, innovation and creativity, investment, services and tariff and non-tariff barriers.
  
• India has taken initiative with China and Bhutan for saving Himalayan eco-system.
  
• India and Nepal on Tuesday signed a new treaty to control unauthorised trade across the border and redefine their trade and commercial relations. India and Nepal also signed a new treaty making it easier for Nepalese products to enter the Indian market without duty.
  
  The revised “India-Nepal treaty of Trade and Agreement of Cooperation to Control Unauthorised Trade” was signed by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Nepalese Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajinder Mahto.
  
• The Finance Ministers of Russia, China and India met in Bangalore. During the meeting on the sidelines of the trilateral Russia India China (RIC) dialogue, the Ministers of China and India favoured more frequent high-level exchanges, media, cultural and people-to-people interaction and even more defence exchanges.
  
• India and China have agreed to use official mechanisms to discuss outstanding issues and agreed not to amplify the differences when both the Prime Ministers met in Thailand.
  
  
• India and China signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to establish a partnership in the area for strengthening dialogue and practical cooperation.
  They agreed to set up an India-China Working Group on Climate Change that will hold annual meetings alternately in China and India to exchange views on important issues concerning international negotiations and domestic policies and measures.

• India – US defense cooperation Yudh Abhyas 2009 has started on October 12th at Babina in UP. 17 US Stryker vehicles shall participate in the operation.

• India signed an agreement in civilian nuclear cooperation with Argentina. This is the seventh pact it has signed after coming out of isolation in the civilian nuclear field. India had signed civilian nuclear pacts with the United States, France, Russia, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Mongolia.
  
  India and Argentina also signed pacts on business visas, cooperation in science and technology and outer space besides Memoranda of Understanding in hydrocarbon sector, sports, trade and geological research.