Diplomacy

India, Israel to focus on defence deals, counter-terrorism

- by India Writes Network

Shedding the veil of secrecy that has tended to envelop India-Israel relations, the Modi government is rolling out the red carpet for Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, a landmark trip that is set to impart a renewed momentum to the burgeoning defence relations between the two countries.
The importance of the trip is clear from the fact that it is the first trip by an Israeli defence minister to India since the two countries established full diplomatic ties in 1992.
Mr Ya’alon will hold meetings with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in New Delhi and also participate in Aero India 2015 in Bengaluru to inaugurate the Israeli Pavilion at Aero India.
The India-Israel relations have acquired a new momentum under the new government in New Delhi, which looks at Tel Aviv as an important partner in a host of areas, including defence, counter-terrorism, and water conservation. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met in New York in September 2014 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. With a host of terror groups active in the region, India is looking to step up counter-terror cooperation with Israel.

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India, Sri Lanka sign nuclear deal, energise ties

- by India Writes Network

Ending a prolonged period of drift in India-Sri Lanka relations, the leaders of India and Sri Lanka upgraded bilateral ties with the two sides signing four agreements, including a landmark pact for civil nuclear cooperation.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lanka’s newly-elected President Maithripala Sirisena held wide-ranging talks to bolster strategic ties, increase trade and resolve long-standing issues between the two nations.
“The bilateral agreement on civil nuclear cooperation is another demonstration of our mutual trust. We discussed expansion of cooperation in energy sector both conventional and renewable,” Mr Modi said in a joint media interaction with the Sri Lankan president.
The two leaders also spent some time discussing the festering issue of fishermen straying into the other country’s territorial waters and underline the importance of resolving this issue.
The four-day visit to India from February 15 to 18 by the Lankan president is aimed at ushering a new chapter in bilateral ties that had suffered and languished during the last few years of his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa. This is Sirisena’s first foreign visit since winning national elections held in January.

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Myanmar: Will another Panglong happen?

- by India Writes Network

The hope of signing a nationwide ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and the ethnic armed groups on the Union Day, 12 February, is unlikely to happen. The date of inking the agreement on this day was proposed by President Thein Sein. It was on this day several decades ago that the historic Panglong Agreement was signed between the Myanmar (then Burma) government and several ethnic minority groups.

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India-US ties not targeted at China, says US envoy

- by India Writes Network

The US has sought a more proactive partnership with India to promote regional stability, but has underlined that the growing India-US relationships are not “confrontational” in relationship with China.

“[India-US Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions] is a vision borne out of the recognition that India’s Act East policy and our rebalance to Asia are complementary and have the potential to create meaningful impact in the region. We want our partnership to benefit not only our two countries, but also the region—and to a larger extent have our partnership stand as a model for emerging democracies worldwide,” US ambassador to India Richard Verma said. Richard Verma is the first Indian-American to become the US ambassador to India. He was speaking an interaction organised by the Asia Society Indian Centre in Mumbai on February 10.
The joint vision statement on the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions during US President Barack Obama’s trip to India haw elicited strong negative reaction from China. Influential state-controlled Chinese dailies termed the vision statement as a manifestation of a US-orchestrated containment strategy directed against China, and accused India of following through with the “containment policy.”
The US envoy’s remarks sought to allay Beijing’s anxieties and placed the India-US geopolitical configuration in a broader perspective

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