1. Foreign Minister Jaishankar attends high level L-69 group meeting in New York
Tags: place in news Summits International News
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar attended the High Level Meeting of the L.69 Group on "Reinvigorating Multilateralism and Achieving Comprehensive Reform of the UN Security Council” in New York, United States of America on 23 September 2022.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- The L.69 Group consists of developing countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Caribbean and Small Island Developing States, focused on reforms of the UN Security Council.
- Dr S. Jaishankar is on an official visit to the United States from 18-28 September 2022. He is leading the India delegation for the High Level Week at the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
2. BRICS members endorse South Africa's presidency in 2023
Tags: International News
The BRICS Foreign Ministers held their annual meeting on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 22 September.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- The foreign ministers of BRICS member countries Brazil, Russia, India and China extended their full support to South Africa for the presidency of BRICS in 2023 and to hold the fifteenth summit.
The Ministers welcomed the Transforming Education Summit convened by the United Nations Secretary-General from 16-19 September 2022.
Member countries also welcomed the first "BRICS Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meeting", which was held virtually on 13 July.
The Ministers encouraged cooperation against corruption among BRICS countries on the basis of full consultation and consensus.
The Ministers reiterated their commitment to further strengthen cooperation within the BRICS Anti-Drug Working Group in accordance with the existing International Drug Control Regime.
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development :
The Ministers called for the implementation of its three dimensions - economic, social and environmental - in a balanced and integrated manner by mobilising the necessary tools to implement the Sustainable Development Agenda in 2030.
They reaffirmed that the BRICS countries are committed to implementing the UN Education 2030 Agenda.
UN Education 2030 Agenda - promoting education accessibility and equity, accelerating the development of quality education and training, encouraging exchanges among the youths, strengthening knowledge on sustainable development, and providing BRICS contributions for global governance.
3. 2023 Breakthrough Prize winners announced
Tags: Science and Technology Awards International News
On September 22, the winners of the 2023 Breakthrough Prize, called the Oscars of Science, totaling more than $15 million, were announced.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- This year three awards were given in the Life Science category while one award each for Mathematics and Physics.
Daniel Spielman of Yale University was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for his many discoveries in theoretical computer science and mathematics.
Clifford Brangwyn and Anthony Hyman (British scientist) won the Life Science Prize for their discovery of a new mechanism of cellular organisation.
Other life science prizes were awarded to Demis Hassabis (British scientist) and John Jumper (USA) for developing AlphaFold, which predicts the structure of proteins, and Emmanuel Mignot (France) and Masashi Yanagisawa (USA) for discovering the causes of narcolepsy.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
About Breakthrough Prizes :
The Breakthrough Prizes were started in 2010 by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
These Prizes were founded by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki.
These prizes are the most richly endowed prizes in science, the prize money of which exceeds that of the Nobel Prizes.
Breakthrough has an amount of $3 million in each prize, which is more than $1 million in prizes awarded to the winner of the Nobel Prize.
The awards are presented in the fields of life sciences, fundamental physics and mathematics.
4. G4 group express concern over slow pace of reform on Security Council
Tags: place in news International News
The foreign ministers of Group of 4 (India, Japan, Brazil and Germany) met in New York on 22 September 2022 and expressed concern about the lack of meaningful progress in the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on United Nations Security Council (SC) reform. They met on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly being held in New York, United States.
The meeting was attended by Indian External Affairs Minister S.Jaishanker, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, Brazilian foreign minister Carlos Alberto Franco Franca and Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The G-4 was formed in 2005 to reform the UN Security Council and include four countries as the permanent member of the United Nation Security Council.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
China not in favour :
- According to the government of India, as told to Lok Sabha on 22 July 2022, only China is opposing India’s candidature for the UN Security Council membership while the other permanent members of the Security Council, Russia, France, United Kingdom and the United States are in favour of India.
- China is also opposed to the membership of Japan and Germany.
- It has a difficult relationship with India and Japan and consider them as its rival while it opposes Germany as it is not a developing country.
UN Security Council :
- The UN Security Council is the main UN body which is responsible for maintaining peace and security in the world.
- It consists of 15 members. 10 members are non-permanent and are elected for 2 years.
- Five members are permanent members and they have veto power. The five permanent members are China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.
5. India and 4 other South Asian countries set up Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA)
Tags: Economy/Finance International News
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The five palm oil importing countries of South Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal have announced the setting up of Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA) at Agra, to strengthen their bargaining power and make oil imports sustainable.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
First chairman of the APOA :
- Atul Chaturvedi, President, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) has been appointed as the first chairman of the APOA.
Aim of the APOA :
- Elaborating the aim of the APOA, Chaturvedi said that “we aim at safeguarding the economic and business interests of the palm oil consuming countries and will work towards increasing the consumption of palm oil in member countries,”
- He said that membership of APOA would be further expanded to include companies or industry bodies associated with production or refining of palm oil across the continent.
- The next meeting of the APOA is expected to be held in Indonesia early next year.
- India is the largest importer of palm oil in Asia and in the world , accounting for 15% of global imports, followed by China (9%), Pakistan (4%) and Bangladesh (2%).
Palm Oil and India :
- Palm oil is used in a wide variety of products from cooking to making shampoos, breads, Ice creams etc.
- India imports about 8.3 million tonnes of palm oil including crude palm oil (CPO), Palmolein and PFAD (Palm Fatty Acid Distillate),
- Around 4 million tonnes of palm oil comes from Indonesia with Malaysia being the second largest source of palm oil (3.8 million tonnes) and Thailand accounting for the remaining half-a-million tonnes.
- Indonesia and Malaysia jointly produce 84 % of world palm oil.
- The largest producer of palm oil in India is Andhra Pradesh followed by Telangana.
6. First ‘Global Clean Energy Action Forum -2022’ starts at Pittsburgh, United States
Tags: place in news Summits International News
The three day (21-23 September) ‘Global Clean Energy Action Forum -2022 organised by the United States government’s Department of Energy and Carnegie Mellon University, started on 21 September 2022 at Pittsburgh, United States .
Under the Global Clean Energy Action Forum a joint meeting of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM13) and Mission Innovation (MI-7) are being held.
It is being attended by energy and science ministers from 31 countries to discuss ways to achieve a net zero carbon target for the world.
India is being led by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.
He met US Energy Minister Jennifer Granholm and other important dignitaries.
The theme for CEM13/MI-7 is Rapid Innovation and Deployment.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- Pittsburgh is also known both as "the Steel City" and as the "City of Bridges".
- Jamshedpur in India is also called as Pittsburgh of India.
7. 10th IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission meeting held in New York
Tags: International Relations Summits International News
The 10th India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) Trilateral Ministerial Commission meeting was held in New York on 21 September.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- The meeting was chaired by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil Carlos Alberto Franco França and Minister of Health of South Africa Dr Joe Phaahla were also present during the meeting.
The Ministers reviewed the entire gamut of IBSA cooperation.
The aspirations of African countries to have a permanent presence on the UN Security Council were endorsed by the ministers.
They also supported the efforts of India and Brazil to obtain permanent membership in the Security Council.
India will host the sixth IBSA summit on the sidelines of the G20 summit in November this year.
Agenda of the meeting :
The agenda of the meeting was on mutual interests including cooperation in multilateral organizations, South-South cooperation, UNSC reform, 2030 agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, countering terrorism, and financing for developmental activities.
They held discussions on regional issues like the African Union, the Middle East peace process, and the situation in Ukraine.
About IBSA Trilateral Ministerial Commission :
It is a trilateral, developmental initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa to promote South-South cooperation and exchange.
This grouping was formally renamed the IBSA Dialogue Forum when the foreign ministers of the three countries met in Brasilia (Brazil) on 6 June 2003 and issued the Brasilia Declaration.
8. Priyanka Chopra advocates children's rights in an address to the United Nation General Assembly
Tags: Person in news International News
Indian actress and the Global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 19 September 2022 in New York.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- Priyanka Chopra who was appointed UNICEF Goodwill ambassador in 2016 talked about Children's rights at the 77th UNGA High Level Week.
- The 77th UNGA opened on 13 September 2022 and the High Level Weeks will be held from 19-23 September in New York.
- High Level weeks is a five day event where invited speakers, speaks on topics selected by the United Nations like Sustainable Development Goals, Transforming Education Summits etc.
- Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is leading the Indian delegation at the 77th UNGA.
9. Rajnath Singh signs MoU with Egypt on Defence Cooperation
Tags: International Relations International News
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a three-day visit to Egypt, met the Egyptian Defence Minister, General Mohamed Zaki in Cairo on 20 September and signed a MoU on Defence Cooperation to further expand the bilateral defence ties between the two countries.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- During the meeting, both sides discussed steps to strengthen defense ties and a consensus was reached for joint military exercises and training, especially in the area of counter-terrorism.
In addition, they also exchanged views on regional security and acknowledged the contribution of India and Egypt to peace and stability in the world.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi agreed to focus on enhancing bilateral cooperation and security aspects.
Singh has also invited his Egyptian counterpart to the India-Africa Defence Dialogue and the IOR Defence Ministers' Conference, which is scheduled to be held in Gujarat from October 18-22 this year as part of the 12th DefExpo.
Egypt is one of the largest investment destinations for India in the region with an existing Indian investment of USD 3.15 billion.
India - Egypt defence cooperation :
To boost defence cooperation between the two countries, an Indian Air Force team arrived in Egypt on 22 June to participate in a bilateral 'Strategic Leadership Program' with the Egyptian Air Force.
The year 2022 has special significance as it marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Egypt.
There was close cooperation between the Air Forces of both countries, with efforts at jointly developing a fighter aircraft in the 1960s.
Indian Air Force pilots had also trained Egyptian pilots from the 1960s until 1984.
In recent times, since 2015, there have been a number of high-level exchanges of visits by defense delegations.
10. Nanmadol Typhoon wreaks havoc in Japan, high alert issued
Tags: International News
Due to the Nanmadol typhoon in Japan, people living in the southwest have been warned to move to safer places.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
- Due to the storm, there has been heavy rain with strong winds throughout the night of 19 September and landslides have also occurred at many places.
One person was killed and fifty others were injured as the storm passed through the island of Kyushu.
Government sources have said that Prime Minister Fomyo Kishida was to attend the UN General Assembly but has stopped to take stock of the damage caused by the storm and will now go a day later.
Nanmadol is the 14th Pacific hurricane of the season, and the largest to hit Japan.
