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Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India: Defence pact, n-energy, development aid top agenda

April 6, 2017April 6, 2017 - by India Writes Network

India’s transforming relations with Bangladesh are set to scale new heights during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s four-day visit to India which will see the two countries sign over 20 pacts, including a landmark agreement on defence cooperation which will bring the two countries into a tighter strategic embrace.
Sheikh Hasina touches down in New Delhi to a red carpet welcome on April 7 for a four-day visit, her first trip to India after a hiatus of more than seven years. India is pulling out all stops to make the visit a big success and project it as a model of its reinvigorated “Neighbours First” policy. In a difficult neighbourhood, India’s blossoming relations with Bangladesh is an unfolding good news story and shows what can be achieved in neighbourly relations with political will and mutual trust.
Briefing the Indian media ahead of Sheikh Hasina’s visit, Sripria Renganathan, Joint Secretary in charge of Bangladesh and Myanmar in India’s external affairs ministry, said in New Delhi that the two countries will sign a five-year framework agreement on defence cooperation for supply, renewal and research and development and a separate MoU under which concessional loan will be earmarked for Bangladesh to source defence equipment from India.
“We do intend to sign two MoUs on defence: one a framework for cooperation for a few years for supply and research and development and the second for Bangladesh to source defence equipment from India under which a line of credit will be earmarked,” she said in response to a question. Diplomatic sources said the Line of Credit for sourcing of defence equipment will be around $500 million.
The big takeaway of Sheikh Hasina’s visit will be a marked upswing in development cooperation, with India looking to announce a massive package of LOCs, which could be in range of $3-5 billion. Ms Renganathan said that India would extend “another substantial concessional loan” to Bangladesh, but did not specify the amount. This will be the third Line of Credit by India to Bangladesh, after the first two LoCs amounting to $1 billion and $2 billion were announced in 2011 and 2015. With the new LOC, which is expected to be announced after talks between Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on April 8, Bangladesh would become the top recipient of India’s developmental assistance.
Counter-terrorism and radicalization of youth, the problems faced by India and Bangladesh, are also expected to dominate the agenda during bilateral talks between Sheikh Hasina and Modi.

Dalai Lama in Arunachal: India asks China to refrain from artificial controversy

April 5, 2017April 5, 2017 - by India Writes Network

With an upset China watching closely, Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has begun a week-long visit to India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The visit has raised the hackles in Beijing and looks set to fuel fresh tensions in Sino-Indian ties. Brushing aside Beijing’s strong objections, India has asked China to refrain from stoking “an artificial controversy” around the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, a region in the eastern Himalayas China claims as its own and regularly denounces foreign leaders’ visits to the place as attempts to bolster India’s territorial claims. India has consistently maintained that Arunachal Pradesh is its integral part and that China should respect that.
Four days ago, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had told the media in Beijing that “China resolutely opposes the 14th Dalai Lama visiting border regions disputed by China and India” and warned that this would “seriously damage” bilateral relations. He dubbed the Dalai Lama as a “dangerous separatist” and urged India to “avoid taking any actions that would further complicate the border issue.” On April 4, the Chinese state media reacted vehemently, saying India “is deliberately risking confrontation” with China by allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh and warned that there will be “severe consequences” in bilateral ties if the visit was allowed.
The trip by the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh is expected to ratchet up tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, which are already festering over a host of strategic issues such as the long-standing unsettled border demarcation between India and China, China’s growing ties with Pakistan and some other South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives which India considers as its own backyard. Analysts say that while India officially would not like any political colour to be attributed to the Dalai Lama’s visit, it is sending a clear message that China has not respected India’s sensitivities in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir by including the disputed territory in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Trump puts America First: New H-1B visa regime to hurt Indian IT firms

April 4, 2017 - by India Writes Network

In a fraught move for India, the US Department of Homeland Security has announced that it would crack down on fraudulent use of H-1B visas, used by employers to bring …

“Racist” spin to attacks on Nigerians: Will it impact India-Africa ties?

April 4, 2017April 4, 2017 - by Manish Chand

India’s burgeoning ties with Africa have come under strain with New Delhi-based African envoys calling for an international inquiry into recent brutal attacks on Nigerian students in a satellite town of the Indian capital. What is disturbing for India is that these attacks, which were the handiwork of some criminals and malcontents, have been described as “racist” and “xenophobic” by the African envoys, indicating that these were expressions of ingrained racist prejudice and hatred.
What was galling for India’s foreign office was that the Dean of African Diplomatic Corps, who issued the blistering statement on the attacks on behalf of other envoys, also alleged that “no sufficient and visible deterrent action” was taken against the perpetrators.”
In a strongly-worded statement, the Dean of African Heads of Mission said that the attacks were “xenophobic and racial” and that Indian authorities had failed to “sufficiently condemn” the attacks or take “visible deterring measures”.
Sadly, these attacks on Africans have come at a time when India is looking to scale up its engagement with Africa across the spectrum. The last three years have seen a marked upswing in India-Africa relations, with India hosting the largest summit with the continent by inviting leaders and representatives of all 54 African countries to the third summit in New Delhi in October 2015. This period has also seen a record number of high-level visits to African countries from India, with the prime minister, president and vice-president visiting over 15 African countries. India-Africa trade has surpassed $70 billion, with more Indian companies looking to invest in the African opportunity.
But, unfortunately, as these attacks on African nationals show, this visible across-the-board acceleration in India-Africa engagement has not translated into an appreciation and understanding of African culture, which has bred distorting stereotypes. Taking a long-range view, it’s necessary for both sides to invest more resources in sensitisation and building mutual popular goodwill if one wants to change the narrative of India-Africa relations on the ground.

India, Malaysia unite against terror, bat for freedom of navigation

April 3, 2017April 3, 2017 - by India Writes Network

Ushering in a new phase in their reinvigorated partnership as key players in the emerging Asian order, India and Malaysia have signed seven agreements across the spectrum, and vowed to fight terror and radicalization of youth. In a message to China, the two countries decided to work proactively to promote freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, the site of territorial disputes between China and some Southeast Asian countries.
The agreements, some of which relate to recognition of each other’s educational degrees and palm oil production research, and the unmistakable focus on security cooperation, which followed talks between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in New Delhi on April 1, marked a qualitatively new high in relations between the two countries.
The most important among pacts inked in the presence of the two PMs was the proposed development of a urea and ammonia manufacturing plant in Malaysia and off-take of existing surplus urea from Malaysia to India. The project is expected to cost US$2 billion, with a capacity to produce 2.5 million tonnes per year and meant for catering to India’s market.
Above all, the Malaysian leader’s visit has imparted a new momentum to strategic partnership between the two countries. “We are leaders in the new emerging order in Asia and the world. Let us continue to work together to build a future based on stability, prosperity and understanding as the centre of the globe moves inexorably to East,” said Mr Razak in an article ahead of his visit to India.

Malaysian PM in India: Focus on business, counter-terrorism

March 31, 2017March 31, 2017 - by India Writes Network

Business, defence and counter-terrorism cooperation are set to get a big leg-up during Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak’s ongoing visit to India.
During their talks on April 1, Mr Najib, who is accompanied by his wife Datin Sri Rosmah Mansour, and Mr Modi will witness the signing of at least six commercial agreements and possibly a Memorandum of Understanding to expanding the defence cooperation.
Setting the tone for Mr Najib’s third visit to India as prime minister in five years (the previous one in 2012), the two leaders reflected their close rapport by taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter on the eve of the visit. Tagging Mr Modi in his post, the Malaysian PM tweeted: “I’ll be travelling to India for a five-day visit. A country that’s been our friend since 1957. Looking forward to meeting PM (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi again.” The Indian leader quickly responded by saying, “India is delighted to welcome you, Prime Minister. Your visit will further boost India-Malaysia ties.”
Malaysian investments in India stand at $6 billion and an additional $6 billion in projects has been executed in India. Indian investments in Malaysia are around US $ 2.5 billion, reflecting the robust economic relationship. The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh will allow Malaysia to build a 250-acre “fourth generation technology park” in its new capital Amravati which is being built by Singapore and Japan.

Oman to harness India opportunity

March 30, 2017 - by India Writes Network

With Oman looking to reduce its economic dependence on oil and India ramping up its outreach to the Persian Gulf, Omani Foreign Affairs Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah will be in India on April 2-3 to scale up economic and energy ties.
During April 2-3 visit, Oman’s Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs will hold wide-ranging talks with India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to enhance economic and strategic partnership between the two countries. Issues relating to peace and security in the West Asia region will also figure in discussions.
Investments from Oman and other Gulf countries are seen by New Delhi as the enabler of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative to create a manufacturing hub in India. Indian investors built Muscat’s IT park, Knowledge Oasis, and a growing number of Omani and Indian academic institutions are establishing tie-ups.

Re-igniting India-US ties: Trump ‘looks forward’ to hosting Modi

March 29, 2017 - by India Writes Network

It promises to be the big-ticket diplomatic meeting of the year for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The dates are not out yet, but the White House has already struck an upbeat note, saying US President Donald Trump looks forward to hosting the Indian leader.
“President Trump has said he looks forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in Washington later this year,” a White House statement said on March 29, following a telephonic conversation initiated by Mr Trump the day before to congratulate Mr Modi on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweeping victory in elections to legislatures in four Indian states, including the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. “President Trump also expressed support for the Prime Minister’s economic reform agenda and emphasized his great respect for the people of India,” said the statement.
Although Mr Modi and Mr Trump may have a brief meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit of the world’s major and emerging economies in Germany in July this year, it will be the Indian prime minister’s first bilateral visit to the US after the change of guard in Washington in January this year.

With China on mind, fresh fuel to India-Nepal energy ties

March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 - by India Writes Network

With China at the back of its mind, India has agreed to deepen energy ties by renewing its fuel sale deal with Nepal by another five years and assist the Himalayan country in implementing a cooking gas-for-the-poor scheme akin to the one launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.

As per the agreement signed in New Delhi on March 27 by Indian Oil Corp. and Nepal Oil Corp. in the presence of Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Nepal’s Minister for Supplies Deepak Bohara, the state-owned Indian energy giant will supply about 1.3 million tonnes of fuel every year for the next five years. India has been supplying fuel to Nepal since 1974 under contracts that were periodically renewed. Indian Oil chairman B. Ashok, who was present on the occasion, said the renewed deal is for the period from April 2017 to March 2022 covering petrol, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and liquified petroleum gas (LPG).

Trump Call after Modi’s Triumph in UP elections

March 28, 2017March 28, 2017 - by India Writes Network

The success in recent state elections in India has bolstered the global profile of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with many world leaders, including US President Donald Trump congratulating the 66-year-old Indian leader. Mr Trump called up Mr Modi on March 27 and congratulated him on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s success in recent state elections, including the landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh, the Indian state whose population surpasses that of the combined population of Britain, France and Germany.
This was the third telephonic contact between the two leaders – the first two being soon after Trump’s US presidential poll victory in November last year and the second after his formal swearing-in in January this year.
Underlining India’s keenness to sustain the momentum in ties with the US built up during the presidency of George Bush and Barack Obama, India’s Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval made back-to-back visits to Washington.
Mr Trump and Mr Modi had last spoken to each other in January when they discussed the security situation in South and Central Asia. India and the United States will “stand shoulder to shoulder” to fight global terrorism, the White House had said after that interaction.