1. India participated in the 6th East Asia Education Ministers' Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam
Tags: Summits International News
India participated at the 6th East Asia Summit Education Minister’s Meeting held on 14 October, 2022 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Important facts
Ms. Neeta Prasad, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Education addressed the gathering through virtually.
She informed about the key initiatives of National Education Policy 2020 and India’s collaborative efforts in education and research with partner countries.
Ms. Neeta Prasad said that the National Education Policy - 2020 is a holistic, flexible and multi-disciplinary vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for education.
She said that this policy is based on the fundamental pillars of equity, quality, affordability and accountability.
She informed that the National Education Policy-2020 focuses on internationalisation of education and building cooperation with other countries.
About East Asia Summit (EAS)
It was initiated in 2005 with the convening of the 1st East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
At the time of its establishment, 16 countries had participated in the East Asia Summit.
The United States and the Russian Federation attended the East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia on 19 November 2011.
It refers to the meeting of the Heads of State/Government of the countries participating in the EAS which is held annually.
It has identified six priority areas of cooperation which include environment and energy, education, finance, global health issues and pandemic diseases, natural disaster management and ASEAN connectivity.
2. Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan assumes charge as whole-time member at SEBI
Tags: Economy/Finance Person in news
Former banker Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan took charge as the fourth whole time member (WTM) in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 10 October.
Important facts
Narayan, who was a member of various advisory committees of SEBI and RBI, has been appointed for the initial three years.
Prior to taking over, Narayan was Associate Professor at the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research.
He has over two and a half decades of experience in banking and financial markets, during which he held the position of Regional Head of Financial Markets for ASEAN and South Asia at Standard Chartered Bank.
He has expertise in foreign exchange, interest rates, derivatives and debt capital markets.
Narayan has also worked with Deutsche Bank and Citibank.
Narayan has been given the Department of Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision (MIRSD), Department of Alternative Investment Funds and Foreign Portfolio Investors (AFD), Department of Integrated Monitoring (ISD), Department of Economic and Policy Analysis (DEPA) and Department of Information Technology (ITD) in SEBI.
Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson - Madhabi Puri Buch
3. First India-Australia-Indonesia foreign minister’s trilateral meeting held in New York
Tags: place in news Summits Person in news International News
External Affairs Minister S.Jaishanker held the first trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of India, Indonesia and Australia in New York on 23 September 2022.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- In a tweet the minister said that he discussed the maritime issue, blue water economy with the Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi and the Australian foreign minister Penny Wong and emphasized the centrality of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific region.
- World leaders are in New York to participate in the High Level Week at the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
4. Union Finance Minister Sitharaman launches e-learning platform ‘Bharat Vidya’
Tags: place in news State News
The Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman launched Bharat Vidya.in, an online learning platform for Oriental and South Asian studies, in Pune, on 21 September 2022.
Bharat Vidya has been developed by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune.
It is a first-of-its-kind online platform, which will offer both free and paid courses covering various aspects of Indology pertaining to art, architecture, philosophy, language and science.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute :
- The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune was set up on 6 July 1917 to commemorate the work of Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar. Bhandarkar was a pioneer of scientific orientology in India.
- Orientology is the study of the ancient indigenous lore and wisdom of the East or the ‘Orient’.
- The institute has one of the largest collections of rare books and manuscripts spanning over 1, 25,000 books and over 28,000 manuscripts in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Indian regional languages, Classical, Asean and European languages.
5. Anupriya Patel represents India at the East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ meeting in Cambodia
Tags: place in news Summits Person in news
Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Anupriya Patel, attended the East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting on 17 September 2022 in Siem Reap City of Cambodia.
She earlier attended the 19th India -ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nation ) economic ministers meeting held in Siem Reap City of Cambodia.
The East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting from all 10 ASEAN countries as well as eight partner countries including Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.
The Ministers exchanged views on global and regional economic developments including the outcomes of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, post-pandemic economic recovery efforts, measures adopted to mitigate the impact of global supply chains disruptions and strong inflation pressure.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
East Asia Summit :
- The East Asia Summit is a regional forum set up by ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) with Regional powers of the Asia-Pacific region Including United States and Russia to further cooperation on strategic and economic cooperation in the region.
- The EAS has 18 member countries. It includes all the 10 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.
- Whichever ASEAN country is the chairman of ASEAN hosts the EAS related meeting in its country. Currently Cambodia is the chairman of ASEAN.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Kingdom of Cambodia :
- It was earlier called as Kampuchea
- It lies in South -East Asia
- Prime Minister: Hun Sen
- Capital: Phnom Penh
- Currency: Riel (KHR)
6. 19th ‘India-ASEAN’ Economic Ministers meeting 2022 held in Cambodia
Tags: place in news Summits
The 19th India -ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nation) economic ministers meeting was held in Siem Reap City, Cambodia on 16 September 2022. Cambodia is currently the chairman of ASEAN.
The meeting was co-chaired by Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and by the Commerce minister of Cambodia Pan Sorasak.
The meeting was attended by Economic Ministers or their representatives from all the 10 ASEAN countries namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
The Ministers noted that trade and economic relations between ASEAN and India are starting to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the two-way trade between ASEAN and India reached USD 91.5 billion in 2021 increasing by 39.2 per cent year-on-year.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
India-ASEAN economic engagements :
- ASEAN is a focus area of economic diplomacy of India. The India-ASEAN Economic ministers meeting is the main body which discusses the trade and investment related issues between the two. The Commerce Minister of India and ASEAN attends these meetings.
Investment between the two :
- Between, 2000-2021, the cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from ASEAN to India was $117.88 billion.
- These were mainly accounted for by Singaporean investments in India ($115 billion).
- Indian investment into ASEAN since April 2019 till March 2022 is US$ 55.5 billion out of which US$ 51.5 billion investment is in Singapore.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) :
- It is considered to be one of the most successful regional groups in the world.
- It was set up in 1967 as a group of South-East Asian nations.
- At present there are 10 members in the group. They are:
- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
- The Headquarters of ASEAN: Jakarta, Indonesia.
7. India, Vietnam holds second security dialogue in New Delhi
Tags: place in news Summits
India and Vietnam held their 2nd security dialogue on 13 September 2022 in New Delhi and discussed ways to enhance maritime security cooperation. The first Security Dialogue was held in Hanoi in 2018.
The Second India-Vietnam Security Dialogue was held at the level of Deputy National Security Advisor/Deputy Minister.
The Indian side was led by Vikram Misri, Deputy National Security Adviser, and the Vietnamese side was led by its Deputy Minister of Public Security, Senior Lieutenant General Luong Tam Quang.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
India Vietnam Relation :
- Vietnam has become an important partner in India’s Act East policy and the Indo-Pacific vision as both the countries has dispute with China.
- Vietnam is involved in a dispute with China on the South China Sea Island. China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea islands, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.
- India favours free and open navigation right in the South China Sea which is threatened by China.
- India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea. India and Vietnam are boosting their maritime security cooperation in the last few years to protect common interests.
- In 2016, during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Vietnam, the bilateral relations were further elevated to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”.
- India and Vietnam signed an important Joint Vision Statement on defence partnership during the visit of the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Vietnam on 8 June 2022.
- During the defence minister's visit India provided a $500 million defence loan to Vietnam.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Vietnam :
- It lies in South East Asia and it is a member of Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)
- Capital: Hanoi
- Currency: Dong
- President: Nguyen Xuan Phuc
8. India to invite Bangladesh and other friendly as guest country during its G-20 presidency
The Ministry of External Affairs on 13 September 2022, said that India will invite a number of friendly countries and International Organisation to the G-20 summit as Guest countries to the G-20 Summit meeting being hosted by India on 09 and 10 September 2023 in New Delhi.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
Guest Countries :
- India will invite Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain and UAE as Guest Countries.
International Organisations to be invited :
- India will invite the United Nations, International Monetary Fund(IMF),World Bank, World Health Organisation (WHO),World Trade Organization (WTO),International labour organization(ILO),Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Financial Stability Board(FSB), Head of African Union, International Solar Alliance ,Association of South-east Asian Nation(ASEAN) , African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD ) CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure) and ADB (Asian Development Bank).
- The G20, or Group of Twenty, is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies. It comprises 19 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA and the European Union (EU).
9. Thai Public Broadcasting Service signs MoU with Prasar Bharati
Tags: International Relations International News
The Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) on 18 August signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India's public broadcaster Prasar Bharati for comprehensive cooperation between Thailand and India to strengthen their bilateral ties.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- Thai PBS and Prasar Bharati share the same values as public broadcasters.
The MoU will contribute to better understanding between the peoples of the two countries and is the first step in cooperation in exchange of news and programmes.
Indian Ambassador to Thailand Suchitra Durai represented Prasar Bharati in signing the MoU.
Both countries also signed MoU on Health and Medical Research Cooperation between Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Medical Sciences, Thailand.
India -Thailand relations :
The year 2022 is the 75th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Both countries share a maritime boundary in the Andaman Sea.
Thailand was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with India in 1947.
In 2021, Thailand became India's fourth largest trading partner in ASEAN.
In 2021-22, Thailand was India's 22nd top trading partner, with a total trade of US$6.6 billion.
The MoU on Defence Cooperation between India and Thailand was signed on 25 January 2012.
Since 2015, India has participated in the largest Asia Pacific military exercise Ex-Cobra Gold as an 'Observer Plus' category.
10. India, Thailand jointly inaugurate Indian Embassy Residence Complex in Bangkok
Tags: International News
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar inaugurated the Indian Embassy Residence Complex in Bangkok along with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Thailand Don Pramudwinai on 17 August.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- Jaishankar is on a visit to Thailand to attend the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission meeting.
He also paid a visit to the Temple of Emerald Buddha in Bangkok.
9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting was held in Bangkok on 17 August.
The meeting was co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs of Thailand and S Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister of India.
Both countries discussed advancing contacts in political, economic, security as well as defence, connectivity and health domains.
The two sides also discussed cooperation within ASEAN and BIMSTEC and shared their perspectives on the Indo-Pacific.
About Thailand :
Primeminister - Prayuth Chan-ocha
Capital - Bangkok
Head Of State - King Vajiralongkorn
Official Language -Thai
Official Name - Ratcha Anachak Thai (Kingdom of Thailand)
