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Asia–Europe Meeting (AsEM)

AsEM is an informal process of dialogue

and cooperation bringing together the 28 European Union member states, 2 other European countries with 21 Asian countries and the ASEAN Secretariat.

It was officially established in 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok, Thailand.

The ASEM Summit is a biennial meeting between the Heads of State and Government, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and Secretary-General of the ASEAN.

Ulaanbaatar Declaration

The 11th edition of the AsEM11 was recently concluded in Ulaanbaatar. The theme of the Summit is ‘20 Years of ASEM: Partnership for the Future through

Connectivity‘. Contributions that ASEM has made in: Fostering greater understanding between Asia and Europe; Broadening political dialogue, enhancing economic cooperation and increasing socio-cultural exchanges; Deepening Asia-Europe inter-connectedness, shaping and forging links and mutually beneficial, multi-layered cooperation for peace and development; Creating opportunities for broader people-to-people connections, including through the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF); Addressing the challenges faced by both regions as well as at the inter-regional and global levels; Promoting effective multilateralism and strengthening other multilateral processes. Commonwealth

It is an intergovernmental organization of 53 member countries that were earlier territories of the British Empire.

It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949. It was formed of countries that shared a common history and fostered growth by

mutual cooperation and integration. Its principle values are peace, democracy and egalitarianism. Having British colonial past is not a prerequisite. Rwanda is a member of

commonwealth despite having no British colonial past. The Commonwealth charter as adopted in 2012 identifies 16 core values and

principles – for instance, democracy, human rights, good governance, International Peace and security, sustainable development etc.

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Why Maldives left the Commonwealth Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA)

It is an inter-governmental forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. It is a forum based on the recognition that there is close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world.

The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992, at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Fifth foreign ministers’ meeting of the Conference was held in Beijing, China. China has announced the failure of the “Rebalance” strategy of the United States, and

has invited Asian countries to join Beijing in framing a security governance model with “Asian features”. China’s formal invite to neighbors to pursue a regional security doctrine

G4 Germany, Brazil, India and Japan called for urgent reforms of the United Nations. The leaders emphasized that the G4 countries are legitimate candidates for

permanent membership in an expanded and reformed Security Council and supported one another’s candidature.

They pledged to work together with all member-states and to accelerate outreach towards achieving an early and meaningful reform of the Security Council.

IBSA

The grouping was formalized and named the IBSA Dialogue Forum when the Foreign Ministers of the three countries met in Brasilia in June 2003 and issued the “Brasilia Declaration”.

It represents three important poles for galvanizing “South-South co-operation” o build consensus on issues of international importance o Greater understanding between three important continents of the

developing world namely, Africa, Asia and South America.

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o It’s purely a South-South grouping of likeminded countries, committed to inclusive sustainable development, in pursuit of the wellbeing for their peoples and those of the developing world.

The principles, norms and values underpinning the IBSA Dialogue Forum are participatory democracy, respect for human rights, the Rule of Law and the strengthening of multilateralism.

An association of developing country democracies that believe they have a right to claim permanent membership of the UNSC.

In his address at IBSA’s first summit in Brasilia, in September 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “The idea of IBSA is without precedent.”

IBSA Trust Fund- Tripartite Agreement among India, Brazil and South Africa

The IBSA Fund for the Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger was set up in 2004 as one of the three pillars of cooperation under the IBSA Dialogue Forum.

The other two pillars are consultation and coordination on global political issues and trilateral collaboration in concrete areas and projects.

The IBSA countries contribute US$ 1 million each annually to the Fund. India on its part has contributed US$ 9.1 million so far to the Fund. The IBSA Fund undertakes development projects in third countries. The first project to be financed by the IBSA Fund was in support of agriculture and

livestock development. The Fund was also conferred the South-South Partnership Award at the 2006 UN

Day event held in New York in December 2006. This indicates the importance and recognition of the IBSA Fund in the context of South-South development cooperation.

IBSAMAR

IBSAMAR are a series of naval exercises between the navies of India, Brazil, South Africa.

The name IBSAMAR is an abbreviation of India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime. The first exercise took place in 2008 Ex IBSAMAR is the most visible manifestation of this convergence of democratic

values, economic interests and maritime cooperation. The primary aim of this exercise is to increase interoperability amongst the three

navies as well as develop common understanding and procedures for maritime security operations.

Ex IBSAMAR highlights the maritime dimension of the IBSA Dialogue Forum and the robust South-South cooperation

In 2016 the Indian Navy will be represented by INS Mumbai an indigenous destroyer, INS Trishul a stealth frigate and INS Shalki, a Shishumar class submarine.

The Brazilian Navy would be represented by Brazilian Naval Ship Amazonas, with embarked Special Forces

The South African Navy would be represented by South African Naval Ship SAS Spioenkop, with integral helicopter and embarked Special Forces

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Central Asia Ashgabat Agreement

It is an international transport and transit corridor. The agreement facilitates transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.

Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan (ITK) railway line will be the major route according to the Ashgabat Agreement, which became operational in 2014

o ITK railway link which became operational in December 2014 is also a part of the India-sponsored North-South international transport corridor (NSITC/INSTC).

Besides the ITK rail link, the other rail project is the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) rail line.

Its founding members are Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Qatar and Oman. Kazakhstan had joined the grouping in 2015. It will provide India an opportunity for reorientation of the freight traffic from the

traditional sea route to land transcontinental routes. To participate in all regional connectivity arrangements that exist outside China’s

OBOR Initiatives Involve in connectivity initiatives that supplement and complement the INSTC To diminish the leverage being exercised by Pakistan in curtailing India’s

connectivity to Central Asian countries. To optimize India’s trade routes to the EU, both in terms of costs and time.

o It will enable India to utilize the existing transport and transit corridor to facilitate trade and commercial interaction with the Eurasian region.

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) The Commonwealth of Independent States also called the Russian Commonwealth is

a loose confederation of 9 member states and 2 associate members that are located in Eurasia formed during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and which were all former Soviet Republics.

It was created in December 1991. HQ: Minsk, Belarus In the adopted Declaration the participants of the Commonwealth declared their

interaction on the basis of sovereign equality. At present the CIS unites 12 countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Moldova, Russia o Georgia was former member country o Associate states: Turkmenistan, Ukraine

International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC)

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It is the ship, rail, and road route for

moving freight between India, Iran, Central Asia and Russia.

The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road.

The objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major

cities such as Mumbai, Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Bandar Abbas, Astrakhan, Bandar Anzali and etc.

Russia, Iran and India signed the agreement for the INSTC project in 2002. Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan –India (TAPI)

Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank.

It’ll become operational by 2019. It will carry 90 million metric standard cubic meters of gas a day for a 30 year period.

India has to pay a transit fee to Pakistan and Afghanistan as the pipeline passes through these nations.

Europe CERN

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. The CERN convention was signed in 1953.

It has 22 European member states. Israel is the first (and currently only) non-European country granted full membership.

Member states have special duties and privileges. They make a contribution to the capital and operating costs of CERN’s programmes, and are represented in the council, responsible for all-important decisions about the organization and its activities.

CERN is also the place the World Wide Web was first implemented. It also operates the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Some states (or international organizations) for which membership is either not

possible or not yet feasible are observers. “Observer” status allows non-member states to attend council meetings and to receive council documents, without taking part in the decision-making procedures of the organization.

Observer states and organizations currently involved in CERN programmes include the European Commission, India, Japan, the Russian Federation, Turkey, UNESCO and the USA.

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CERN’s main function is to provide the particle accelerators and other infrastructure needed for high-energy physics research – as a result, numerous experiments have been constructed at CERN as a result of international collaborations.

India joins CERN as an associate member. CERN has formally conferred its associate membership on Pakistan, following

completion of required internal ratification process by it. Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)

It is a proposed free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. If enacted, the agreement would eliminate 98% of the tariffs between Canada and

the EU. Benefits:

Remove customs duties. Expand the services market. End restrictions on access to public contracts. Offer predictable conditions for investors. Prevent illegal copying of EU innovations, trademarks and products (e.g., food). Boost growth and jobs across Europe. Increase trade and investment across Europe. Strengthen cooperation between the EU and Canada.

Eurasian Economic Union

International organization for regional economic integration. It has international legal personality and is established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.

The Member-States of the Eurasian Economic Union are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz and the Russia.

The EAEU provides for free movement of goods, services, capital and labor, pursues coordinated, harmonized and single policy in the sectors determined by the Treaty and international agreements within the Union.

The Union is being created to comprehensively upgrade, raise the competitiveness of and cooperation between the national economies, and to promote stable development in order to raise the living standards of the nations of the Member-States.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

EFTA is an intergovernmental organisation, established in 1960 by the EFTA Convention for the promotion of free trade and economic integration between its Member States (today Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), within Europe and globally.

The organization operates in parallel with the European Union (EU), and all four member states participate in the European single market.

EFTA does not envisage political integration. It does not issue legislation, nor does it establish a customs union.

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European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO)

EMBO is an organization of more than 1700 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences.

Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists.

It organizes courses, workshops and conferences, publishes four scientific journals and supports individual scientists and projects and it supports talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information.

The organization is based in Germany. India through the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology,

has signed a Cooperation Agreement to acquire the status of the Associate Member State.

After Singapore, India will now become second such country outside the European region to sign this agreement.

European Union Aftermath of the Second World War, –

For European integration and prevention of future wars – To also prevent threat from Soviet Union to Europe.

As a Unified market – European union as a single market which allows the free movement of goods, capital and services, and people between member states. Britain initially was not the part of European Union, but later joined in 1970.

HQ: Brussels, Belgium Bratislava Declaration

Recently the summit was held in Bratislava to discuss the issues after exit of Britain from European Union.

o Currently EU is facing existential crisis, and exit of Britain from EU is the latest symptom of the fear and discontent that have spread across the continent, fuelled by the migrant crisis, Islamophobia, Eurozone woes and terrorist attacks.

o The summit was held to diagnose the situation and to forge a united path forward.

The Bratislava Declaration offers a road map for European Union countries for the next six months, on the issues like migration, border security, counter-terrorism, defence and economic and social development etc.

The Bratislava Declaration identifies various areas where much needed action required, such as funding for strategic investments across the region, establishing a common capital market across the EU and acquiring advanced traveller information to secure borders.

Broadbased Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA)

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In 2007, India and the EU began negotiations on a broad-based BTIA in Brussels, Belgium.

These negotiations are pursuant to the commitment made by political leaders at the 7th India-EU Summit held in Helsinki in October 2006 to move towards negotiations for a broad-based trade and investment agreement on the basis of the report of India-EU High Level Technical Group.

India and the EU expect to promote bilateral trade by removing barriers to trade in goods and services and investment across all sectors of the economy.

Both parties believe that a comprehensive and ambitious agreement that is consistent with WTO rules and principles would open new markets and would expand opportunities for Indian and EU businesses.

India has not signed a FTA with European Union. The FTA talks have been deadlocked since 2013 after 16 rounds of negotiations

Brussel Summit between India and EU

The talks have become a casualty of diplomatic tension between the two sides. The friction has been caused by various incidents, including India’s arrest in 2012 of Italian marines charged with killing two fishermen off the coast of Kerala.

Second diplomatic fracas, this time over the ban on 700 generic Indian drugs in the EU, on procedural grounds, struck a blow to the free trade talks.

India and EU reaffirmed their commitment to a “rules-based” international order and a “multipolar” world.

This is significant because U.S. moving towards reneging on several international deals.

Two sides have agreed to enhance cooperation at multilateral and bilateral interactions.

Under the FTA, the issue of data adequacy and greater market access was discussed at length.

The leaders committed to work in a result-oriented and mutually beneficial manner to further strengthen the India-EU Strategic Partnership by deepening their trade cooperation, enhancing investment flows in both directions and broadening dialogue and engagement on global and regional issues, including climate change, as well as migration and the refugee crisis, and resolved to further strengthen their bilateral and multilateral cooperation in these areas.

The leaders commended the strong engagement of the European Investment Bank in India in a wide range of key sectors, in particular in the field of climate action and renewable energy.

European Union Customs Union (EUCU)

It is a customs union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU), Monaco, and some territories of the United Kingdom which are not part of the EU (Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man).

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Some territories within the EU do not participate in the customs union, usually as a result of their geographic circumstances. Besides the EUCU, the EU, through separate agreements, is in customs unions with Andorra, San Marino, and Turkey, with the exceptions of certain goods.

The customs union is a principal component of the European Economic Community, established in 1958, and now succeeded by the European Union. No customs duties are levied on goods travelling within the customs union and—unlike a free trade area—members of the customs union impose a common external tariff on all goods entering the union.

A precondition of the customs union is that the European Commission negotiates for and on behalf of the Union as a whole in international trade deals such as the World Trade Organisation, rather than each member state negotiating individually. It accounts for approximately 16% of world trade. Customs Union member states cannot enter into independent trade deals with third parties.

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation Programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.

Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness.

Seen as a means to drive economic growth and create jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe’s leaders and the Members of the European Parliament. They agreed that research is an investment in our future and so put it at the heart of the EU’s blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and jobs.

By coupling research and innovation, Horizon 2020 is helping to achieve this with its emphasis on excellent science, industrial leadership and tackling societal challenges. The goal is to ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.

Horizon 2020 is open to everyone, with a simple structure that reduces red tape and time so participants can focus on what is really important. This approach makes sure new projects get off the ground quickly – and achieve results faster.

Participants from European Union member states and countries associated to Horizon 2020 are automatically funded.

Investment Facilitation Mechanism (IFM)

The IFM has been established with the key objectives of paving the way for identifying and solving problems faced by EU companies and investors with regard to their operations in India.

The mechanism will allow for a close coordination between the European Union and India with an aim to promote and facilitate EU investment in India. The IFM will cover new investors as well as those already established in India.

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The IFM is also going to serve as a platform for discussing general suggestions from the point of view of EU companies and investors with regard to ease of doing business in India. Ease of doing business is a fundamental priority of the Indian Government’s Make in India Campaign and the establishment of IFM for facilitating EU investments in India is another step to achieve this goal.

As part of the IFM, the EU Delegation to India and the DIPP will hold regular high level meetings to assess and facilitate “ease of doing business” for EU investors in India. This will include identifying and putting in place solutions to procedural impediments faced by EU firms and investors in establishing or running their operations in India.

Brexit Why they wanted to leave?

Britain is being held back by the EU, which they say imposes too many rules on business and charges billions of pounds a year in membership fees for little in return.

One of the main principles of EU membership is "free movement", which means you don't need to get a visa to go and live in another EU country.

They also object to the idea of "ever closer union" and any ultimate goal to create a "United States of Europe".

It will be able to secure trade deals important countries such as China, India and America.

It saves money, which could be used for scientific researches and for building new industries.

Leaving will return control over areas like employment, law, health and safety. Currently, Britain has little influence within the EU. By leaving EU, it can have a

stronger influence for free trade and cooperation. Would it affect the global economic growth?

No, say few experts. In fact, economics is not the real issue here. Politics is a bigger issue here.

As far as the UK is concerned, roughly about 40% of the trade of UK is with EU and largely two countries-Holand and Germany. Hence, this would not make any big difference.

How Brexit affects India?

Brexit affects global financial market. Markets across the world will tank. The pound will depreciate against most major economies. India cannot remain immune to this. Sensex and Nifty will tumble in the short-run.

India is presently the second biggest source of FDI for Great Britain. Indian companies that would set up their factories in the UK could sell their products to the rest of Europe under the European free market system. However, now it will not be as attractive a destination for Indian FDI as before.

With Brexit, India will lose its gateway to Europe. This might force India to forge ties with another country within the EU, which would be a good result in the long run.

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India is already trying to build trade negotiations with Netherlands, France, Germany, and others, albeit in a small way. Netherlands is India’s top FDI destination as of now. A Brexit could force India to build trading partnership with other EU nations in order to access the large EU market.

With Britain cutting off ties with the EU, it will be desperate to find new trading partners and a source of capital and labour. Britain will still need a steady inflow of talented labour, and India fits the bill perfectly due to its English-speaking population. With migration from mainland Europe drying up, Britain would be able to accommodate migration from other countries, which will suit India’s interests.

Britain is one of the most important destinations for Indians who want to study abroad. Presently, British universities are forced to offer subsidized rates for citizens of the UK and EU. With Brexit, however, the universities will no longer be obliged to provide scholarships to EU citizens, which will free up funds for students from other countries. Many more Indian students may be able to get scholarships for studying in the UK.

Colombo Declaration

• "Colombo Declaration" adopted to coordinate anti-drugs efforts • UNODC and the Government of Sri Lanka co-hosted a meeting to address drug

trafficking in the Indian Ocean Region. • At the high-level meeting, Ministers and Government Representatives adopted the

"Colombo Declaration," which gives way to the forthcoming Southern Route Partnership as the main coordination mechanism for counter narcotics initiatives in this region.

• The Colombo declaration adopted during the high-level meeting states that narcotic drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean poses a threat to peace and security in the region and its possible link to organized crime and funding of terrorism.

• It stresses upon the need for coastal states to cooperate more closely on enforcing maritime law, sharing information, and providing mutual legal assistance, including the expansion and development of communication through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC’s) Indian Ocean Prosecutors Network.

Illicit funds generated from drug trafficking driving terrorist activities and illegal arms trade: Shri Ahir

• High Level Meeting of Interior Ministers of the Indian Ocean Region in Colombo was attended by 18 littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region, which included seven Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Interior/Home Affairs.

• The meeting was also attended by seven international organizations/partner agencies and UN agencies engaged in counter-narcotics initiatives in the region.

• The delegates resolved to work towards making the Indian Ocean a “Drug Free Zone”.

• The declaration states that narcotic drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean poses a threat to peace and security in the region and its possible link to organized crime and funding of terrorism.

• The declaration also called on the littoral states of the Indian Ocean to meet on an annual basis within the framework of the Southern Route Partnership (SRP) of

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Indian Ocean Forum on Maritime Crime (IOFMC) to assess and report on the drug trafficking threat in the Indian Ocean and develop a coordinated approach to counter such threats.

Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy

“Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” aims to prepare Japan to deal with the fast changing global and regional order and threats from China and North Korea.

It is understood that by connecting “two oceans” and “two continents”, Japan is quietly challenging China’s aggressive plans in the South China Sea that pose a threat to the energy lane that sustains Japanese economy

Forum for India-Pacific Island Conference (FIPIC)

It is a multinational grouping developed in 2014 for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations.

1st Summit-Suva, Fiji measures to strengthen India’s partnership in the region were proposed which

include setting up of 'special fund of $1 million' for adapting climate change vis-a-vis clean energy,

establishing a 'trade office' in India, 'Pan Pacific Islands e-network', to close the physical distance between the islands

by improving digital connectivity, extending visa on arrival at Indian airports for all the fourteen Pacific Island

countries, 'space cooperation' in space technology applications for improving the quality of life

of the islands, 'Training to diplomats' from Pacific Island countries to increase mutual

understanding. 2nd Summit-Jaipur

One of the key outcomes of the first summit in Suva, Fiji was that top leadership of both India and Pacific Islands should meet at a regular interval and an annual summit should be instituted in this regard.

India will set up an Institute for Sustainable Coastal and Ocean Research and a network of marine biology research stations in the region.

Other Agreements Though these countries are relatively small in land area and distant from India,

many have large exclusive economic zones (EEZs), and offer promising possibilities for fruitful cooperation.

It is rich in marine resources and accounts for 71 per cent of the world's ocean fishery catch.

India has had a long history of cooperation and close engagement with Fiji, which has a large population of Indian origin. India has participated in PIF meetings as one of the 17 dialogue partners (including US, EU and China).

India has offered its Navy’s direct support and capacity building, especially for coastal surveillance and hydrographic surveys, to gain a better understanding of maritime zones and strengthen security of EEZs.

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India has offered it capability in Space technology to help in inventory of land and water resources; fish zoning; forest resources management; coastal and ocean studies; weather and climate change; and, disaster management support.

One information technology laboratory will be set up in each Pacific Island country to improve local IT infrastructure, and help to provide tele-medicine and tele-education to the people.

In the field of health, India will focus on developing capacity for health services. Generic drugs from India are presently supplied through third countries at a higher cost. India is ready to set up a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant and distribution centre in the Pacific Island region and has offered a Line of Credit for this project.

In the media field, Prasar Bharti, India’s national broadcaster, will gift television and radio programmes on culture, entertainment, news, education, etc., in English and Hindi to the PIF countries.

On reform of the United Nations, and in particular the addition of India as a new permanent member to the UN Security Council, support was expressed. India’s efforts to push through a UN General Assembly resolution on UN reform were also supported.

The scattered nature of the PIF members across vast ocean spaces mean that telecom and television services via satellite could be a game changer. Power generation from biomass gasification and solar energy are promising areas. There is demand for services of Indian experts and for training of personnel in India in a wide variety of fields.

More opportunities could be provided for students from these countries to study in India.

‘Indian Ocean Naval Symposium’ (IONS)

The ‘Indian Ocean Naval Symposium’ (IONS) is a voluntary initiative that seeks to increase maritime co-operation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion of regionally relevant maritime issues. In the process, it endeavours to generate a flow of information between naval professionals that would lead to common understanding and possibly cooperative solutions on the way ahead.

That the launch of so important a regional initiative was able to meet with such wide acceptance across the length and breadth of the Indian Ocean was in itself a unique phenomenon. There are 36 littoral in the Indian Ocean which have been geographically grouped into the following four sub-regions

India, China to join Indian Ocean exercise

Indian Navy will be joining the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in a maiden maritime search and rescue exercise to be chaired by Bangladesh at the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in November 2017.

Bangladesh, the current Chair, is scheduling a maiden International Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise (IMMSAREX) in November in the Bay of Bengal to be attended by ships and aircraft of the members and observers of the IONS.

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Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation

The Indian Ocean is the only ocean named after a country and it is named so on account of the dominant position of India in this region from ancient times.

India is a natural leader of the Indian Ocean region in view of its strategic location and operational capability.

India is located at the Centre of Indian Ocean, its size, Population and professional capability of navy bestows upon India a natural ability to play a leading role in ensuring peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region.

As maritime trade has become increasingly important for interconnected economies, India retained an important position by placing itself at the significant shipping lanes, securing the Ocean that connects the Straits of Hormuz to the Straits of Malacca will be essential for global stability.

What is IOR-ARC? Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation Established in 1997 with the Coordinating Secretariat of IORA is located

at Ebene, Mauritius . The IORA is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, bringing together representatives

of Government, Business and Academia, for promoting co-operation and closer interaction among them.

It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region

The objectives of IORA are as follows: To promote sustainable growth and balanced development of the region and

member states To focus on those areas of economic cooperation which provide maximum

opportunities for development, shared interest and mutual benefits To promote liberalization, remove impediments and lower barriers towards a freer

and enhanced flow of goods, services, investment, and technology within the Indian Ocean rim.

Importance of Indian Ocean rim The Indian Ocean is the world's third largest ocean. It carries half of the world's

container ships, one third of the world's bulk cargo traffic and two thirds of the

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world's oil shipments. It is a lifeline of international trade and transport. The region is woven together by trade routes and commands control of major sea-lanes.

Indian Ocean rim region = rich precious minerals, metals and other natural resources, marine resources and energy.

China is not a “member”, just dialogue partner. Although they’re interested in becoming full time member.

Comoros was recently added as 20th member. Indian Ocean Rim nations to boost cooperation on SEZs

India and several other nations bordering the Indian Ocean have decided to evolve a regional mechanism for cooperation on Special Economic Zones (SEZ) – or duty-free enclaves with tax holidays — to boost exports.

This was decided at the recently held first-of-its-kind meeting between SEZ authorities from Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) nations at Chabahar, Iran. Notably, Chabahar houses a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) – a synonym for SEZs.

The meeting comes at a time of global economic and trade slowdown and attempts are being made by countries to boost growth through trade.

Raisina Dialogue

The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference held annually in New Delhi. Since its inception in 2016, the conference has emerged as India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.

The conference is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving a variety of global policymakers including heads of state, cabinet ministers and local government officials.

The name "Raisina Dialogue" comes from Raisina Hill, an elevation in New Delhi that is home to the Government of India, as well as the Presidential Palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan

Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD)

• SLD is a "Track One" inter-governmental security forum held annually by an independent think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) which is attended by defense ministers, permanent heads of ministries and military chiefs of 28 Asia-Pacific states.

• The forum gets its name from the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore where it has been held since 2002.

• The summit serves to cultivate a sense of community among the most important policymakers in the defence and security community in the region.

• Government delegations have made the best out of the meeting by holding bilateral meetings with other delegations on the sidelines of the conference.

• While primarily an inter-governmental meeting, the summit is also attended by legislators, academic experts, distinguished journalists and business delegates.

Munich Security Conference

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The Munich Security Conference (MSC; German: Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz) is an annual conference on international security policy that has taken place since 1963.

Each year it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges.

The list of attendees includes Heads of States, Governments and International Organizations, Ministers, Members of Parliament, high-ranking representatives of Armed Forces, Science, Civil society as well as Business and Media.

The conference is held annually in February. The venue is the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Germany.

At this conference, under the theme of peace through dialogue, senior politicians, diplomats, military and security experts from the member countries of NATO and the European Union, but also from other countries such as Russia, China, Japan and India are invited to discuss the current issues in security and defense policies.

Neocolonialism of US

To gain control over Afro-Asian countries in their imperialistic zeal, the US converted Diego Garcia into a nuclear base reportedly to keep the oil lines in the Indian Ocean operative.

One more reason for developing bases in the Indian Ocean is that through its presence the US can pressurize the Indian Ocean states.

The presence of the US in the Indian Ocean is a direct threat to the sovereignty of the native states and is a part of neocolonialism strategy of the US.

The Indian Ocean’s strategic significance attracted the attention of the great powers with the discovery of oil wealth of the Persian Gulf region. The Indian Ocean, due to this fact, has special significance for the West in general and the US in particular. This ocean is termed as “oil line of the West” as most of their oil requirements depend on the native states of the Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean is virtually land locked ocean. A number of countries in this zone suffer from weak governance and regime

instability , vulnerable to non state actors driven by extremist ideologies. North American Free Trade Agreement

NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that reduced or eliminated trade barriers in North America.

Negotiations for the trade agreement began in 1990 under the administration of George H.W. Bush and were finalized under Bill Clinton’s presidency in 1993.

The agreement went into effect on January 1, 1994. In 1993 the European Union (EU) created a “single market”—one territory without

any internal borders or other regulatory obstacles to the free movement of goods and services. This allowed every country and business in the EU to have access to more than 500 million consumers.

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NAFTA, which was approved that same year, was designed to have a similar effect, providing a way to allow the exchange of goods and services to flow more freely across national borders without the artificial restrictions.

NAFTA provided for progressive elimination of all tariffs on any goods qualifying as North American. The deal also sought to protect intellectual property, establish dispute-resolution mechanisms, and, through corollary agreements, implement labor and environmental safeguards.

Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic.

Eight member countries constitute the council: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States as these are the eight countries with sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle.

One of the most dramatic effects of global warming is seen in the Arctic region. In recent years the ice in the Arctic Sea has been melting rapidly.

In 2007, a large part of the Arctic Sea became ice free in summer months for the first time in living history.

The melting of the ice in the Arctic Sea has had two major geopolitical impacts:

One, new shipping routes between the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the East, linking Europe with Asia in the north, have opened up. These consist of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the North West passage.

Second, opening of the Arctic Sea has given way for resource mapping in the Arctic region.

The Arctic Sea is estimated to have as much 10 to 20% of the world’s oil and nearly 30% of natural gas.

Importance of arctic region:

The territories in the Arctic Circle regions of Russia, Norway, Sweden and Finland have large minerals, particularly, the iron ore. Mineral exploration and exploitation is expected to pick up as Arctic shipping develops further in the future.

Apart from the minerals, the Arctic regions will emerge as a new source of fishing. The region is already being called the ‘kitchen of Europe’. The releases of new lands as a result of melting of ice will lead to development of the agriculture in the region.

Polar tourism is picking up too. The small Norwegian town of Kirkenes attracts nearly 200,000 tourists in the year.

The opening of the new sea routes and the scramble for resources makes for new geopolitics. The Arctic Council, an inter-governmental forum of eight countries — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US — set up in the 1996 to deal with Arctic issues has been transformed into an active organisation where the future of the Arctic might be decided.

India and the Arctic council:

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In May 2013, India became an Observer at the Arctic Council, which coordinates policy on the Arctic.

Other countries that joined India as Observers were China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Italy.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands are already Observers.

In becoming an Observer, India had to agree to the following criteria set by the Council:

Recognise the sovereign rights of Arctic states. Recognise that the Law of the Sea and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea

constitute the legal basis and the legal framework within which the Arctic will be managed.

Respect indigenous peoples, local cultures and traditions. Be able to contribute to the work of the Arctic Council.

Why South Korea is important for India in this regard?

It is proposed that India should leverage trade talks with South Korea to have a greater say in the arctic, especially since we can’t have strategic partnerships with Russia or China going by our current US-leaning foreign policy. Our dependence on oil, especially crude oil, should make the Arctic doubly important when looking at India’s perpetual problem of energy security.

Currently, oil comes to Asia through the Suez Canal and is stored in Singapore, making Singapore the world’s biggest oil storage hub.

When the Northern Sea Route (NSR) opens up, it will be a challenge to Singapore because the NSR is a shorter route and piracy issues plague the Suez Canal.

Having sensed this opportunity, South Korea is emerging as the next hub for oil storage by planning to add tanks for storing almost 60 million barrels of crude and refined products by 2020. Korea has also come up with a master plan for the Arctic consisting of three policy goals, four strategies and thirty-one projects connected to the Arctic region.

India cannot remain immune from the developments in the region even though the area is remote and far away. India has a long tradition of polar research. It maintains a permanent research station in Svalbard.

On the negative side, the enhancement of economic activity in the Arctic Region will accelerate global warming and lead to large sea level rise impacting the global climate to which India cannot remain indifferent.

Central Treaty Organization (CenTO)

Originally known as the Baghdad Pact or the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) was formed in 1955 by Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. It was dissolved in 1979.

U.S. pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, although the United States could not initially participate.

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NATO

It is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.

The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

NATO's headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, where the Supreme Allied Commander also resides.

A “NATO decision” is the expression of the collective will of all 28 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus.

The Membership Action Plan (MAP) is a NATO programme of advice, assistance and practical support tailored to the individual needs of countries wishing to join the Alliance.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has launched largest exercise “Trident Juncture” since 2002 with troops from 30 states, including non-NATO in Italy, Spain and Portugal. 30 nations will participate in the drills which are taking place at sea, in the air and across the territory of three European states.

South–South cooperation

South–South Cooperation is a term historically used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the Global South.

India and South-South Cooperation: India has always been a chief exponent of South-South Cooperation.

Both at collective as well as individual level, India has supported and strengthened the process of South-South Cooperation, which ‘ can be explained under the following points:

A. At collective level, India took the initiatives for South-South Cooperation as the North-South Dialogue could not succeed and the dream of NIE0 remained unrealized. Since the Bandung conference, 1955, the goal of collective reliance through the process of cooperation among developing countries has been on the agenda of NAM. At the initiatives of India, the NAM Summit of 1989 held at Belgrade adopted the resolution to set up South Commission to identify the areas and programmes of South-South Cooperation. White Julius Nyerere was the chairman of the Commission, the present Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was its first Secretary-General. India has played leading role in various conferences organized by NAM for this purpose as well as in the international forums like G-77 and UNCTAD to promote the process of cooperation among developing countries. The foundation of IBSA in 2003 is the most important measure in this direction. India succeeded in incorporating the mechanism of South-South Cooperation, for the first time in the international development strategy adopted at the IV UN LDC Conference held in May, 2011 in Istanbul for the development of LDCs. This development strategy is known as Istanbul Programme of Action (IP0A).

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B. At individual level, India has taken a number of measures for c6operation among developing countries:

India has launched its flagship programme Indian Technological and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) in way back in 1964 for the development cooperation with poor developing countries. This programme is being launched in 159 countries of Asia, Africa and other regions for their development. Under this programme, India offers financial as well as technological assistance to various mutually agreed projects of development.

Though, India is a recipient of development assistance from the rich countries, it also offers development assistance to poor LDC countries. This is the recent development in India’s economic diplomacy.

India offers cheap lines of credit to poor countries for implementing development programmes in these countries.

India gives concession in trade duties in the favour of import from the poor countries in order to promote their trade and development.

India has been in the forefront for cooperation in the human resource development in poor countries of South. Besides scholarship to the students from these countries, India has successfully launched many human resource development programmes in these countries. Training of personnel of various categories forms the core element of this programme.

In conclusion, we can say that the idea of South-South Cooperation has travelled a long way but as a collective strategy it has yet to score a major success. In the era of globalization some new initiatives for cooperation among M./eloping countries are being taken but their performance is yet to be assessed. South-South Cooperation has been a major plank of India’s policy towards other developing countries and it is likely to be continued to be so in future also.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

It was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Manila Pact, signed in 1954 in Manila, Philippines.

The organization's headquarters were also in Bangkok. Eight members joined the organization.

Primarily created to block further communist gains in Southeast Asia, SEATO is generally considered a failure because internal conflict and dispute hindered general use of the SEATO military

Warsaw Pact

It was a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War.

The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CoMEcon), the regional economic organization for the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Warsaw Pact was created in reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO.

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Andean Community (BCEP)

It is a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence when the Cartagena Agreement was signed in 1969.

Its headquarters are in Lima, Peru. Latin American Integration Association (LAIA)

Latin American Integration Association (ALADI, its initials in Spanish) was created in 1980 to promote the economic and social development of the region, in a process of integration aiming at a gradual and progressive establishment of a common Latin American market.

o Administrative center Montevideo, Uruguay o Working languages: Spanish Portuguese

ALADI is the result of a process of regional integration which started at the end of the 1950s, the first milestone being the establishment of the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) in 1960.

LAFTA was a relatively strict mechanism because it required that any trade concession from a member country to another would be immediately and automatically extended to the others – “the most favored nation clause”. This model did not provide the expected gains.

Given the perception that it was necessary to change this model, the 1980 Montevideo Treaty (TM80) – the instrument that created ALADI - brought an important element of flexibility: the possibility of signing agreements between only two or more member countries. Thus, commitments no longer needed to be undertaken by all countries. That resulted in a significant increase in the number of agreements signed within the scope of ALADI.

Latin American Free Trade Association

LAFTA was created in 1960 with Treaty of Montevideo by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay & came into effect on January 2, 1962.

When the trade association commenced it had seven members and its main goal was to eliminate all duties and restrictions on the majority of their trade within a twelve-year period.

By 1970, LAFTA expanded to include four more Latin American nations which were Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. It now consisted of eleven nations.

The membership of ALADI had remained unchanged until Cuba joined in 1999 which now has 13 members

The goal of the LAFTA is the creation of a free trade zone in Latin America. It should foster mutual regional trade among the member states, as well as with the U.S. and the European Union.

Mercosur (ABPU)

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Mercosur is an economic and political bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

o Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname are associate members.

o Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and

currency. The official languages are Spanish, Portuguese and Guarani. It is now a full customs union and a trading bloc. Outside Asia, FTAs have been agreed with Chile and MERCOSUR.

o India has signed bilateral FTAs with Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Thailand, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Korea, Malaysia and Japan.

o There have also been two regional trade agreements, the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) and ASEAN.

Mercosur suspends Venezuela

Venezuela has been suspended from the Mercosur trade group over its failure to comply with its commitments when it joined the group in 2012.

In this regard, the Foreign Ministers of the four founding members of Mercosur— Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay — notified Venezuela’s government of the decision in a letter.

Background:

Mercosur accepted Venezuela as a member when South America was dominated by Leftist governments in an effort to link the region’s biggest agricultural and energy markets.

Venezuela has not adopted all the membership rules and treaties it had promised. It has failed to meet economic, human rights and immigration accords governing the

group. Implications of this move:

The suspension would not carry any sanctions against Venezuela, but would sideline its government from bloc meetings and trade negotiations.

A suspension would also further isolate Venezuela as it struggles with food shortages and social unrest as its oil-dependent economy crumbles.

Is communism and other left ideologies known for their staunch opposition to neo-liberal capitalism ebbing in Latin America? Latin American countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, etc remain one of the last resorts of the communist oriented govt. However, that too could shortly end as seen by the changing policies and opposition in these govt

Resumption of Cuban ties with USA – Cuba is all set to magnify its trade and investment with the USA, the world leader of capitalism, after decades of isolation

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The socialist regime in Brazil is facing corruption scandals. The economy is shrinking with time. This has led to waves of protest from the people, which could lead Brazil to shift to capitalist oriented policies

Venezuela, is trying to rapidly expand its oil industry by inviting Chinese companies to invest in the region

A similar pro-capitalist trends have been seen in other countries such as Bolivia, Mexico, etc

The Preferential Trade Agreement of MERCOSUR, the regional trading association of Latin Americam Countries, with India to expand trade and investment is another step in this regard

What it shows is that a hard core left oriented ideology may not work in the long run, just like hard core capitalist system which took a massive blow during the depression years. A middle pathway of Mixed economies seems to be the best bet. The term "pink tide" has become prominent in contemporary discussion of Latin American politics. The term seems to be a play on words based on "red tide" (a biological phenomenon rather than a political one) with "red" – a color long associated with communism – being replaced with the lighter tone of "pink" to indicate the more moderate communist and socialist ideas gaining strength. China’s Growing Arms Sales to Latin America China has made remarkable inroads into the Latin American arms market. From almost zero in 2005 to over USD 130 million in 2014, China has carefully and systematically emerged as a major arms supplier to countries of the region and has shifted from a donor of logistics and medical equipment to a significant supplier of weapons and weapons systems. China’s foray into the region’s military market was initially in the form of non-lethal aid: uniforms, medical supplies, hospital equipment, engineering equipment and an extensive package of training at Chinese military academies for staff officers. China’s breakthrough came when Venezuela’s then President Hugo Chavez, in his quest to diversify arms supplies given a somewhat uneasy relationship with the United States, turned to Russia for Su-30MKV fighters and to China for K-8 trainers and air search radars in 2008.Subsequently, the Chavez, and later Maduro, regimes made extensive purchases from China, including transport aircraft, self-propelled artillery and armored personnel carriers, some of which were deployed to crush protesters in 2014. It is of interest to note that the United States, once the dominant influence over the armed forces of the region, is now in danger of losing that position to China and has already lost it in countries like Bolivia and Venezuela. Of further interest is that countries such as South Korea are also making inroads into the Latin American region with joint-ventures with Colombian and Peruvian companies for building patrol vessels and has exported trainer aircraft to Peru and anti-ship missiles to Colombia. Chinese Presence in Latin America

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China's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean have grown enormously in recent years, built on the back of carefully implemented policies. Extensive funding, technical and strategic assistance to friendly regimes guarantees China staunch political support in a region that has begun to assert its independence from the United States. India lags in its approach to the region; it needs a vision and a strategy for LAC it does not have. China’s recorded links to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) can be traced back to the 16th century. The “silk road of the sea” saw 20 to 60 ships sail between China’s coastal regions and Mexico’s Acapulco every year, exchanging silk, cotton, jewellery and gunpowder for shoes, olive oil and wine (Romero 2010).

Chinese labour flowed India’s association with LAC was more recent. In the 19th century, the British,

French and Dutch sent labourers from India to work on the plantations more recent migration has been relatively scarce.

Political Relations

China today has embassies in 21 of the 22 states India has diplomatic relations with all 33 states of LAC, but only 14 embassies.

Economic Strategy and Exchanges Chinese companies are involved in prestigious projects all over the region. India’s engagement with LAC is based on commercial considerations, driven mainly

by the private sector. Trade

Between 2000 and 2014 bilateral trade between LAC and China expanded 22 times (ECLAC 2015). China is now the second biggest trading partner of the region and the first of Chile and Brazil.

India has run a trade deficit with LAC over the past decade—$16.5 billion in 2014–15.

Comparison and Contrast China and India are important markets for LAC resources and sources of viable and relevant technologies, in areas such as renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, communications, software, etc. Latin Americans admire oriental cultures. They are not intrusive nor overtly judgmental. This has helped establish solid political relations and promote economic and cultural ties.

The sheer scale of Chinese presence dwarfs that of India, whose engagement has been selective and cautious.

China’s interaction with LAC has been elevated to the highest level, through regular visits, and CELAC–China Summits. India’s interaction with CELAC has been sporadic, only at the level of foreign ministers. High level visits, mostly from LAC to India, have delivered comparatively scant results.

Chinese investment in LAC today challenges that of the US and Europe. Indian investment is marginal by comparison.

The growing strength of the Renmimbi in international finance, and its prospects as a reserve currency, will be another factor in China’s favour in the coming years.

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China has undertaken strategic exchanges in the areas of defence, outer space and aviation and other areas with some LAC countries. India’s strategic engagement accounts for purchase of some Brazilian aircraft and sale of seven Dhruv helicopters to Ecuador in 2008, a contract which was cancelled in 2015.

China is projecting its soft power aggressively in LAC. Of India’s five cultural centres in the region, three are in the diaspora-rich Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. Only two—Brazil and Mexico—are in Latin America.

Lessons for India Though China’s engagement with Africa, primarily through the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is greater, LAC is not too far behind. Economic relations are frequently conditioned by political imperatives. Extensive funding, technical and strategic assistance to friendly regimes, such as the ALBA grouping, guarantees China staunch political support in a region that has begun to assert its independence from the US. Its financial clout and market attracts even hitherto unsympathetic regimes.

China probably faces more daunting barriers to its exports than does India. It is also geographically more distant. For historical and ideological reasons, it has to contend with suspicious official

establishments in several LAC countries. Its growing presence and clout has provoked the US, Europe and Japan to reassert

themselves in the region. India faces little or no resistance of this sort.

If and when India evolves a strategy for LAC, it will need to undertake an official campaign at the highest level, with a focus of the sort that has been applied to its relations with South East Asia or Africa, to make up for lost time. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

It is an economic and geopolitical organisation of eight countries that are primarily located in South Asia or the Indian subcontinent.

o SAARC Secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The SAARC policies aim to promote welfare economics, collective self-reliance

among the countries of South Asia, and to accelerate socio-cultural development in the region.

The SAARC has developed external relations by establishing permanent diplomatic relations with the EU, the UN (as an observer), and other multilateral entities.

The official meetings of the leaders of each nation are held annually whilst the foreign ministers meet twice annually.

The eighteenth summit of SAARC was held in Kathmandu during November 2014. o The theme of the summit was Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity,

focused on enhancing connectivity between the member states for easier transit-transport across the region.

o The summit took place after an interval of three years as the last summit was held in 2011 in Maldives

o The latest summit held in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2016.

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SAARC is relevant:

This is the only forum in south Asia where all the leaders come together every year. SAARC official process has sensitized a large number of non-official processes. Even countries like Russia and Australia wants to get permanent membership of

SAARC. SAARC does provide continuity to relations among the member countries especially

when bilateral relations are at the nadir. Close linkages developed between the Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) of

the member countries. The economic areas of co-operation have not shown much success but SAARC has

widened its areas of interaction and presently is experimenting with sub-regional co-operation

SAARC has tackled important topics for the region such as a social charter, development agreements and even the sensitive subject of fighting terrorism.

The food and development banks, agreement on transportation and energy are important steps.

SAARC meets have at times helped diffuse tensions. Sharp drop in aid to SAARC nations

The slashing of the assistance to SAARC countries is in line with the cut in Budget to the Ministry of External Affairs this year that has fallen by about Rs. 500 crore, if one counts the allocation for the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) that was merged with the MEA this year.

o Allocation to Nepal has seen a drop of 28.6%. o Sri Lanka and the Maldives have seen cuts of 54% and 78.1% compared with

the PY. o And even the countries with the lowest GDP, Afghanistan and Bhutan, saw

cuts this year of 23% and 10.8% respectively. The one exception to the Budget proposals is Myanmar (not a SAARC nation), and

saw a major 48% increase in development aid, due to the government’s focus on the Kaladan multi-mode transport corridor project, as well as the ‘Trilateral Highway’ project.

This cut is also likely to affect Bhutan, where hydel projects such as Punatsangchhu I and II or the massive 720 MW Mangdechu are at the preliminary stages of progress.

SAIEVAC meeting

The regional inter-governmental South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) became a SAARC Apex Body in November 2011. Registered in the Maldives, its Secretariat, headed by its Director-General, is based in Kathmandu, and its activities are implemented in all SAARC countries, SAIEVAC originated in 2005 as the South Asia Forum for Ending Violence Against Children (SAF), an outcome mechanism of the Regional Consultation on the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children , at the meeting organized by the South Asia

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Coordinating Group on Action Against Violence Against Women and Children (SACG) and hosted by the Government of Pakistan in Islamabad.

India Business Card For SAARC Trade

India is all set to launch an “India Business Card” for the business community in SAARC countries. The stumbling block so far for issuance of this card had been Pakistan, but the decks have now been cleared with renewed ties with Pakistan.

India relaxed business visa norms for Pakistan, which is valid for three years now, up from one year earlier, and businessmen would be able to visit up to 15 places.

The India Business Card will have a special logo and will be only given to businessmen of high repute. It is being done with an aim of ease of business and gels with the ‘Make in India’ policy of the government.

It is not clear whether Pakistan businessmen would be allowed in the manufacturing sector and given a green signal to open factories in India.

Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA)

Signed in 2010 that calls for greater facilitation in the movement of goods amongst the two countries.

Afghan trucks with fruit and dry fruit up to Wagah, Pakistan would be given transit to Central Asian countries bordering Afghanistan, where Pakistani textiles and agricultural and surgical goods have a good market.

However, the APTTA clearly noted that no Indian goods could be imported under the agreement, and that the Afghan trucks would have to drive back empty to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where they could, if they wished, load up with Pakistani goods instead.

Problem Area Far from being a unifier, the APTTA itself has become a point of deep discord. Bitter

India-Pakistan relations mean Afghan trucks carrying perishable fruit face long delays on both sides of the border where they must be loaded and unloaded, often more than once.

Mr. Ghani told the visiting U.K. envoy, Owen Jenkins that Pakistan was deliberately slowing procedures or shutting down trade in fruit harvesting season, thus causing severe losses to Afghan farmers and traders.

Mr. Ghani went on to threaten, not for the first time, that if this continued, he would cut off access for Pakistani trucks to Central Asia. Pakistan in turn has rejected any changes to the APTTA that would benefit India.

Disconnect Meanwhile, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are moving at a furious pace to cut one

another out of the trade equation. India is working on a corridor via Iran’s Chabahar port, where goods will go up the

land route and connect to the Zaranj-Delaram Highway without touching Pakistan.

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Pakistan will connect directly to China through the small strip through PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan once the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is ready, avoiding both India and Afghanistan.

Afghanistan too is assiduously cultivating its options to the north and its position in China’s One Belt, One Road plans.

BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA)

The Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative is a sub regional architecture of countries in South Asia.

It meets through official representation of member states to formulate, implement and review quadrilateral agreements across areas such as water resources management, connectivity of power, transport, and infrastructure.

Signed in 2015, allows vehicles to enter each other's territory and does away with trans-shipment of goods from one country's truck to another at the border, a time consuming and costly process.

Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personnel and Cargo Vehicular Traffic in Thimpu, Bhutan.

It will pave the way for a seamless movement of people and goods across their borders for the benefit and integration of the region and its economic development.

South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ)

It was launched in 1997 by the Foreign Ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN).

SAARC in 1997 endorsed SAGQ as a sub-regional initiative under SAARC. The goals of SAGQ are:

to create an enabling environment for accelerating economic growth; to overcome infrastructural constraints; to make optimal use of and further develop the complementarities in the subregion,

and to improve policy coordination

Bhutan blocks India’s ambitious sub-regional road connectivity plan

An ambitious road connectivity plan involving BBIN has hit a roadblock with upper house of Bhutan parliament deciding against ratifying the motor vehicle pact.

A large cross-section of people in Bhutan, including lawmakers, have expressed concerns over the environmental impact of allowing large number of vehicles enter the country after it ratifies the pact.

South Asia Economic Summit

South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) was started in 2008. It is a regional platform for discussing and analyzing economic and development issues and challenges faced by South Asian countries and advancing the cause of regional integration and cooperation.

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Envisaged as a Davos-like event in South Asia, the SAES brings together stakeholders from the government, private sector, research/academic community and civil society to generate innovative and actionable ideas for consideration by the region’s policymakers and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The whole process is led by a group of five eminent think tanks that take turns to organize the annual event in one of the SAARC countries.

The think tanks are Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh; Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), India; South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Nepal; Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan and Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), Sri Lanka.

The 10th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) will begin at Kathmandu

The theme of three day summit is “Deepening Economic Integration for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in South Asia”.

The summit is being organised by National Planning Commission and Ministry of Commerce of Nepal and South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment, Nepal.

South Asian Games

They are a biennial (Every 2 years) multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asian Sports Council (SASC), formed in 1983.

The first South Asian Games were hosted by Kathmandu, Nepal in 1984 and have since been held every two years except for some occasions.

This is the third time India will host the Games, after Kolkata in 1987 and Chennai in 1995.

The event is being hosted for the first time in the North east of the country does add significance to the games where it will be held in Guwahati and shillong.

South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) It will be a collaborative venture between the IMF, the member countries that is Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka and development partners for supporting the capacity development needs of the members. No Afghanistan and Pakistan

Additional member countries could join SARTTAC at a later stage. SARTTAC will also selectively cater to the capacity building needs at the State level,

especially in India. Also, capacity development will ensure innovative solutions to financial, fiscal and

monetary issues with the use of information technology (IT) and innovative techniques.

IMF has said that it will undertake the best practices from the South Asian region and across the globe to establish the centre. It is expected to become the focal point for planning, coordinating, and implementing the IMF’s capacity development activities in the region on a wide range of areas, including macroeconomic and fiscal

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management, monetary operations, financial sector regulation and supervision, and macroeconomic statistics.

The Center will help address existing training needs and respond to the demand for IMF training in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, while bringing the region’s training volume on par with those of other regions.

Funding will come from contributions by regional member countries and development partners. Australia, the Republic of Korea and India has pledged financial support for the Center.

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)

In 1996, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal, a subset of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), formed the South Asian Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ)

Maldives and Sri Lanka were welcomed as new member countries in May 2014. Set up in 2001, SASEC program is a project-based partnership brings together

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka in a project-based partnership to promote regional prosperity by improving cross-border connectivity, boosting trade among member countries, and strengthening regional economic cooperation.

It is independent of SAARC. Since 2001, SASEC countries have implemented 37 regional projects worth more

than $6.75 billion in the energy, transport, trade facilitation, and information and communications technology (ICT) sectors.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) serves as the Secretariat for the SASEC member countries.

SASEC’s first comprehensive long-term plan to promote greater economic cooperation among the member countries in the areas of transport, trade facilitation, energy, and economic corridor development.

Bringing regional cooperation to a higher level, the SASEC OP plans to extend physical linkages not only within SASEC but also with East and Southeast Asia by the next decade.

Myanmar joins ADB’s South Asia economic body Myanmar has formally become a full member of SASEC programme of Asian Development Bank (ADB) being the seventh country to join the group.

Myanmar’s membership in SASEC can offer a host of opportunities for realizing synergies from economic cooperation in the sub-region. Myanmar is the key to realising greater connectivity and stronger trade and economic relations between SASEC sub-region and the countries of East and Southeast Asia.

SASEC member-countries recognize that most of SASEC’s multimodal connectivity initiatives include Myanmar as road corridors in Myanmar provide the key links between South Asia and Southeast Asia and ports in Myanmar will provide additional gateways to the landlocked North Eastern region of India.

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SASEC’s energy connectivity and energy trade prospects will be enhanced with the inclusion of Myanmar, involving its substantial resources of hydropower and natural gas.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

India Not a member to ASEAN Head Quarter- Jakarta, Indonesia After Second World War, most of these colonies attained independence. But they

also had internal dispute regarding territories and borders. One such dispute was Indonesia-Malaysia conflict over the Borneo islands. This

conflict + the then ongoing Vietnam War raised fears of increased external involvement in the newly independent states.

They feared that south east region would become a theatre of western vs. communist ideologies. Hence they decided to form a common platform. To resolve bilateral issues among themselves

1967, five countries signed “Bangkok declaration” ASEAN. o It was formed 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,

and Thailand. o Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos,

Myanmar (), and Vietnam. Thus today ASEAN has 10 members o I M P S T B C L M V - IMPortant S&T BC Light Motor Vehicle

The motto of ASEAN is “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”. ASEAN Way

It refers to a methodology or approach to solving issues that respects the cultural norms of Southeast Asia. It has been said that the merits of the ASEAN Way might "be usefully applied to global conflict management.

Musyawarah and Mufakat [deliberation and consensus]; don’t use force/confrontation; don’t interfere in the internal matters of states; Informal discussion; minimal institutionalization.

To achieve “the ASEAN way”, (TAC) was signed. Treaty of Amity & Cooperation (TAC)

they’ll not interfere in the internal affairs of one another, they’ll not use threat or use of force to settle differences / disputes they’ll settle of differences or disputes by peaceful means, They’ll effectively cooperate among themselves. they’ll mutually respect each other’s’ independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial

integrity and national identity Every State has right lead its national existence free from external interference,

subversion or coercion, India had signed TAC treaty with ASEAN in 2003.

ASEAN Regional Forum

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ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the first regionwide Asia-Pacific multilateral forum for official consultations on peace and security issues.

An outgrowth of the annual ministerial-level meeting of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the states serving as ASEAN’s “dialogue partners,” the ARF provides a setting for discussion and diplomacy and the development of cooperative responses to regional problems.

The inaugural ARF meeting was held in July 1994 in Bangkok, Thailand, and was attended by 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN’s 10 dialogue partners (Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, New Zealand, and the United States). Papua New Guinea and Mongolia joined the group in 1999, and North Korea was admitted in 2000.

ASEAN Plus Three

People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea. Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI)

It is a currency swap agreement among ASEAN +3, It provides emergency liquidity to those economies during crises.

ASEAN Community (2015) Similar to European Union will be setup in 2015 and will have three pillars

ASEAN Political Security Community ASEAN Economic Community ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

ASEAN Vision 2020

Southeast Asia becoming a group of nations which are: "outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity".

Included in ASEAN Vision 2020 were provisions on: peace and stability, being nuclear-free, closer economic integration, human development, sustainable development, cultural heritage, being drug-free, environment, among others.

The Vision also aimed to: "see an outward-looking ASEAN playing a pivotal role in the international fora, and advancing ASEAN's common interests"

ASEAN 2025:

The ASEAN leaders have also adopted the declaration on “ASEAN 2025, forging ahead together”.

The ASEAN 2025 document charts the path for the AEC building over the next ten years.

It is a forward looking roadmap that articulates ASEAN goals and aspirations to realize further consolidation.

ASEAN 2025 means a community committed to working with external partners to strengthen cooperation in combating non-traditional security challenges like

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terrorism, drug related crimes, human trafficking and maritime issues through various initiatives and project

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

By signing the Kuala Lumpur declaration on the establishment of the AEC, ASEAN leaders have declared the establishment of an EU-style regional economic bloc, AEC.

The AEC envisages a single market with a free flow of goods, capital and skilled labour across borders in the highly competitive economic region.

It will integrate Southeast Asia’s diverse economies The move is also expected to boost political and diplomatic cooperation between

members of the grouping. This community could give India greater access to a market with a combined GDP of

$2.57 trillion. The grouping is also seen as a huge middle-class market that Indian industries and services can take advantage of.

Delhi Dialogue 9:

The 9th edition of the Delhi Dialogue was recently held in New Delhi. The Delhi Dialogue is an annual event to discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between ASEAN and India. It has been held annually since 2009.

The theme for Delhi Dialogue 9 is “ASEAN-India Relations: Charting the Course for the Next 25 Years”.

Delhi Dialogue is a conference in which policymakers converge to discuss a range of issues relating to India-Asean relations.

The Delhi Dialogue is being organised by the MEA in collaboration with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), and other bodies of the Asean countries.

East Asia Summit (EAS)

Established in 2005, EAS allows the principal players in the Asia-Pacific region to discuss issues of common interest and concern, in an open and transparent manner, at the highest level.

The membership of EAS consists of ten ASEAN Member States, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand, Russian Federation and the USA.

EAS is an initiative of ASEAN and is based on the premise of the centrality of ASEAN. Nanning Singapore Economic Corridor

The Nanning–Singapore economic corridor is an initiative begun in 2010 in Southeast Asia, which would connect several cities in Southern China with Hanoi in Vietnam, Vientiane in Laos, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Bangkok in Thailand, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Singapore with modern road, rail, and pipelines, as well as cross-border economic initiatives.

The corridor is planned to better connect neighbouring economies, and encourage

development across the ASEAN–China Free Trade Area.

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Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

It is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) (ASEAN plus Three, Australia, India, and New Zealand).

RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia.

RCEP will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical co-operation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement and other issues.

It aims to boost goods trade by eliminating most tariff and non-tariff Expected to provide the region’s consumers greater choice of quality products at

affordable rates. It also seeks to liberalize investment norms and do away with services trade

restrictions. When inked, it would become the world’s biggest free trade pact ASEAN–India Free Trade Area (AIFTA) is a free trade area among ASEAN and India.

o The initial framework agreement was signed on 8 October 2003 in Bali, Indonesia and the final agreement was on 13 August 2009.

o The free trade area came into effect on 1 January 2010. India hosted the latest ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi on 20–21 December 2012.

The first ever ASEAN-India Music Festival will be held at Purana Quila

The 3 day festival is being organised by the External Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the Culture Ministry to celebrate the 25th year anniversary of ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations.

The Festival aims to boost cultural influences among the peoples of the ASEAN member states and India.

India warned against pitfalls in ASEAN trade agreement

Civil society organisations are pushing for the removal of harmful intellectual property provisions that could potentially increase drug costs by creating new monopolies and delaying the entry of affordable generics in the market.

Concerns: Concerns have been raised over the proposals made by Japan and South Korea that

go beyond the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

Two of the most worrying are the demands for ‘Data Exclusivity’ and ‘Patent Term Extensions’.

Data exclusivity is a form of legal monopoly protection for a drug, over and above the patent protections. This is given expressly to compensate for the investment made during clinical trials. It implies that regulators cannot approve a similar drug with similar data for the next five years, delaying the entry of generic, affordable versions.

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Patent term extensions are given to compensate the company for delays in processing patent applications. A company gets a 20-year patent monopoly on a drug from the date that the application is filed. Sometimes processing these applications takes time and the companies get only 13 years instead of 20. A patent term extension will give another five-year monopoly to the innovator company, again delaying the entry of generic drugs in the market.

Trading bloc to India: Cut tariffs or exit FTA talks

RCEP members are upset over India’s protectionist stance, focusing only on the export of manpower and not on liberalizing trade in goods and other services, as well as investment.

Some member countries want India to take a long-term approach and agree to eliminate duties in goods (barring in a few sensitive sectors in agriculture & industrial goods) on a higher threshold within a decade to help India leverage the opportunities arising out of the Global Value Chain.

ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus)

The ASEAN Security Community (ASC) Plan of Action, adopted at the 10th ASEAN Summit, stipulates that ASEAN shall work towards the convening of an annual ADMM. Against this background, the Inaugural meeting of the ADMM was held in Kuala Lumpur on 9 May 2006.

The ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN. The ADMM aims to promote mutual trust and confidence through greater understanding of defence and security challenges as well as enhancement of transparency and openness.

ADMM Plus

• Consistent with the ADMM guiding principles of open and outward looking, the 2ndADMM in Singapore in 2007 adopted the Concept Paper to establish the ADMM-Plus.

• The ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its eight Dialogue Partners to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region.

• The Inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, on 12 October 2010. The objectives of the ADMM, as outlined in the Concept Paper for the Establishment of an ADMM endorsed at the Inaugural ADMM in Kuala Lumpur, are as follows:

• To promote regional peace and stability through dialogue and cooperation in defence and security;

• To give guidance to existing senior defence and military officials dialogue and cooperation in the field of defence and security within ASEAN and between ASEAN and dialogue partners;

• To promote mutual trust and confidence through greater understanding of defence and security challenges as well as enhancement of transparency and openness; and

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• To contribute to the establishment of an ASEAN Security Community (ASC) as stipulated in the Bali Concord II and to promote the implementation of the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) on ASC.

ASEAN Defense Meeting Puts Terrorism in the Spotlight

• Southeast Asian defense ministers met in the Philippines for another iteration of their regional defense meetings

• This year, the Philippines, which holds the annually rotating chair of ASEAN, is hosting the meetings during the organization’s 50th anniversary.

• The agenda was expected to be wide-ranging, including progress made on confidence-building efforts, discussion around regularly featured areas of cooperation like humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and maritime security, as well as issues of regional interest like the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.

Initiated in 1991. It was developed and enacted during the government of P.V. Narasimha Rao and rigorously pursued by the successive administrations of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.

Narendra Modi underscored the centrality of the 10-nation ASEAN bloc in India’s plan to scale up its ‘Look East’ policy to an upgraded ‘Act Easy Policy’

o The policy seeks to revive and reinvigorate India's relations with ASEAN as well as expand engagement beyond the region to encompass the Koreas in the North to Australia and New Zealand in the South, and from neighbouring Bangladesh to Fiji and Pacific Island countries in the Far East.

o Look East Policy was originally conceived as an economic initiative which gained added political, strategic and cultural dimensions including establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation under Act East Policy.

Asian Highway network

The Asian Highway (AH) project, also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), to improve the highway systems in Asia.

Some of the countries taking part in the highway project are India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Iran, Japan, South Korea and Bangladesh

The Asian Highway network is a network of 141,000kms of standardized roadways The Asian Highway project was initiated in 1959 with the aim of promoting the

development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved, however, progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975.

It became one of the three pillars of Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by the UNESCAP Commission in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway and facilitation of land transport projects.

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The Asian Highway Network is going to take over 2 projects, one is the AH 45 and the other is the new AH 45A. AH 45A is the new highway all over Asia from Tonghua to Sana'a

Route log

AH1 to AH8: Continent-Wide Routes AH10 to AH29 and AH100 to AH299: Southeast Asia Routes AH30 to AH39 and AH300 to AH399: East Asia and Northeast Asia Routes AH40 to AH59 and AH400 to AH599: South Asian Routes AH60 to AH89 and AH600 to AH899: North Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia

Routes Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

Currently India has Observer status. It is a regional economic forum with 21 members. It was established in 1989 in

response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; to fears that highly industrialized Japan (a member of G8) would come to dominate economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region; and to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.

The APEC process is supported by a permanent secretariat based in Singapore. An annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is attended by the heads of government

of all APEC members except Taiwan (which is represented by a ministerial-level official under the name Chinese Taipei as economic leader).

The location of the meeting rotates annually among the member economies, and a famous tradition, followed for most (but not all) summits, involves the attending leaders dressing in a national costume of the host country.

Aim:

to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration.

Criterion for membership

The criterion for membership is that the member is a separate economy, rather than a state.

One result of this criterion is that membership of the forum includes Taiwan, alongside People's Republic of China, as well as Hong Kong.

Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; Vietnam.

Bogor Goals

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During the meeting in 1994 in Bogor, Indonesia, APEC leaders adopted the Bogor Goals that aim for free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialized economies and by 2020 for developing economies.

To meet the Bogor Goals, APEC carries out work in three main areas: o Business Facilitation o Economic and Technical Cooperation. o Trade and Investment Liberalisation

Functions:

APEC works to help all residents of the Asia-Pacific participate in the growing economy. APEC projects provide digital skills training for rural communities and help indigenous women export their products abroad.

Recognizing the impacts of climate change, APEC members also implement initiatives to increase energy efficiency and promote sustainable management of forest and marine resources.

The forum adapts to allow members to deal with important new challenges to the region’s economic well-being. This includes ensuring disaster resilience, planning for pandemics, and addressing terrorism.

In APEC, all economies have an equal say and decision-making is reached by consensus. There are no binding commitments or treaty obligations. Commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis and capacity building projects help members implement APEC initiatives.

Member economies participate on the basis of open dialogue and respect for views of all participants.

APEC’s structure is based on both a “bottom-up” and “top-down” approach. Capacity building projects play an important role in helping translate APEC’s goals

into reality. By enhancing members’ capacity through skills training and technological know-how, APEC-funded projects strengthen members’ readiness to adopt new initiatives from electronic customs processing to regulatory reform.

APEC projects also target specific policy areas from enhancing small and medium enterprise competitiveness to facilitating the adoption of renewable energy technologies in the region.

Why India Was Not Part Of APEC?

1993 was the period when Indian economy was just liberalized. We have mounting loans from payable to World Bank and economy was just plodding. In comparison South East Asian economy was booming and matched with developed economies of Japan, USA and Australia.

India was also not a part of Pacific Rim whose member was part of APEC. Thus it was both lack of coherence as well as lack of confidence in Indian economy that restricted India’s entry into APEC.

Its internal strength was shown in the form of resilience in 2008 global economic crises.

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Liberalisation and market principles are deeply entrenched and initiatives like Make in India, Digital India etc further add glitter to our reputation. Hence India is cynosure of everyone’s eye now.

Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA)

Formerly the Bangkok Agreement is an initiative under the UNESCAP for trade expansion through exchange of tariff concessions among developing country members of the Asia Pacific Region.

The current membership of APTA consists of seven countries or Participating States (PSs), namely, Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka.

Since it is a PTA, the basket of items and extent of tariff concessions are enlarged during the trade negotiating rounds from time to time. So far three rounds have taken place.

India has offered concessional tariff on 570 items @23.9% while 48 items @39.7%. By September 2016, the Union Cabinet has approved concessional tariff on 3142

items @28.01%. This shows that India is keen to expand trade ties between its neighbours and it should be welcome.

APTA is the only operational trade agreement that links China and India. To what extent, increasing interest in APTA can help India to handle the lopsided trade balance with China?

India’s trade with China is highly in favor of China. The trade deficit is expected to nearly double to $60 billion in next two years if market access constraints and non-tariff barriers are not addressed; and if India’s exports are not competitive.

Currently, Indian goods face non-tariff barriers in China. Via APTA, India has pushed for tariff concessions from China in oil seeds, textile items and marine products in the fourth round negotiations, mainly to correct the imbalance.

Further, India has also offered duty concession on rail rolling stock, nuclear reactors and fissile material to gain benefit from China as well as South Korea.

BIMSTEC

Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)

It is a regional organization comprising seven member states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal.

o Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal. This sub-regional organization came into being through the Bangkok Declaration. The objective of building such an alliance was to harness shared and accelerated

growth through mutual cooperation in different areas of common interests by mitigating the onslaught of globalization and by utilizing regional resources and geographical advantages.

Unlike many other regional groupings, BIMSTEC is a sector-driven cooperative organization. Starting with six sectors for sectoral cooperation, it expanded to embrace nine more sectors.

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China already has special economic agreement with most BIMSTEC members (Except Bhutan and India)

Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters

The Ministry of Home Affairs has been designated as the Central Authority under Article 15 of the Convention.

The Convention aims to extend widest measures of assistance to each other through mutual cooperation for enhancing capability and effectiveness of the Member States in investigation and prosecution of crimes, including crimes related to terrorism, transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and cyber-crimes.

Disaster Management Exercise- 2017

The Government of India has entrusted the responsibility of organizing the First ‘BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017’ to the NDRF.

This Exercise will provide a platform to share the Best Practices on comprehensive aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), strengthening regional response and coordination for Disaster Management among the BIMSTEC nations.

The main exercise will comprise of Table Top Exercise (TTX), Field Training Exercise (FTX) and After Action Review (AAR).

Terrorism

The BIMSTEC also said “there should be no glorification of terrorists as martyrs” — a clear reference to Hizbul militant Burhan Wani who was killed by security forces in Kashmir in July and later hailed as a “martyr” by Pakistan.

The BIMSTEC document also strongly condemned the “recent barbaric terror attacks in the region” — a reference to attacks in Uri and Dhaka.

BIMSTEC countries have also agreed reiterated their strong commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stress that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever.

India will host the first meeting of national security advisers of BIMSTEC countries

India will host the first meeting of national security advisers of BIMSTEC countries in the coming months to coordinate action against terrorism, extremism and radicalization.

BIMSTEC Forum provides an ideal platform for fostering of Traditional Medicine Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India hosted First Meeting of BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine on 24-25 October, 2017 at Parvasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi. The Meeting discussed the following important agenda :-

Implementation of Strategies of BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicines (BITFM)

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Priority Areas for technical and research collaboration among the Member States on Traditional Medicine

Regional strategy on the protection of Genetic Resource associated with Traditional Medicine Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights and develop a work plan

Human Resource Development and Capacity Building among the BIMSTEC Member States

New Initiative, proposals and programmes for cooperation on Traditional Medicine among the BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine.

CLMV Conclave- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam

CLMV Business Conclave will have deliberations on manufacturing, renewable energy, agriculture and skilling among others.

It is Aimed at identifying specific project opportunities and seek business partnerships in the region

The CLMV conclave is an annual feature which provides an opportunity for Indian business leaders to interact with government and business stakeholders representing the four countries.

The conclave facilitates to create and provide a platform for the decision makers from CLMV countries to interact with a range of Indian business companies involved in trading, manufacturing, processing, engineering, consultancy, construction etc.

Significance

Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam collectively, is the third largest economy in ASEAN, followed by Indonesia and Thailand.

Due to close proximity, India is looking to boost trade and investment with the CLMV region as part of the ‘Act East’ policy

CLMV-Project Development Fund

The Union Cabinet has given its approval to create a Project Development Fund (PDF) for catalyzing Indian economic presence in the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The fund will be established with a corpus of Rs 500 Crore. It shall be housed in Department of Commerce and operated through the EXIM

Bank. It shall be governed by an Inter-Ministerial Committee under the chairpersonship of

the Commerce Secretary. Significance of this fund:

CLMV countries namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have a unique position in the regional value chains and offer a gateway for market access to China/EU and other markets due to various trade agreements.

The key advantage of positioning India on the regional value chains is securing on a long term basis, a dedicated market for Indian raw materials and intermediate goods besides a dedicated source for inputs and raw materials for Indian industry.

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While opportunities are a plenty in CLMV region, Indian entrepreneurs’ endeavors in these countries have, thus far, been limited due to limited information, infrastructure and other contingent risks.

The PDF shall benefit India’s industrial community for business expansion, and to maintain cost competitive supply chains, besides integrating with global production networks.

Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC)

MGC was established in 2000 at Vientiane at the First MGC Ministerial Meeting. It comprises six member countries, namely India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia,

Laos and Vietnam. Areas of cooperation: tourism, culture, education, and transportation linkage in

order to be solid foundation for future trade and investment cooperation in the region.

The organization takes its name from the Ganga and the Mekong, two large rivers in the region.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation which was founded in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

o The SCO was founded by leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan in 2001. Uzbekistan joined the group later. India and Pakistan signed the memoranda for becoming a permanent member of the SCO in 2016.

The SCO’s objectives are centered around cooperation between member nations on security-related concerns, military cooperation, intelligence sharing and counter-terrorism.

It is mainly aimed at military cooperation between the members and involves intelligence-sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia.

The presence of China and India, the world’s most populous countries, would make the SCO the organisation with the largest population coverage.

Its headquarters in Beijing India and SCO India, in 2005, acquired the observer status in the SCO. Since then it has constructively participated in all SCO summit meetings thus showing its strong willingness to be meaningfully associated with this regional grouping.

Cooperation on counter-terrorism is expected to emerge as a major point of India’s exchange with SCO. India is expected to have a greater say in pushing for effective action in combating terrorism and on issues relating to security

India, one of the largest energy consuming countries in the world, is also likely to get greater access to major gas and oil exploration projects in Central Asia once it becomes part of the SCO.

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India’s entry into the China-dominated grouping is seen as a major milestone as it is expected to increase the group’s heft in regional geo-politics and trade negotiations besides giving it a pan-Asian hue.

India’s inclusion may even bring down Beijing’s overarching influence over the SCO Becoming a full member of the body will strengthen India’s position in Central Asia.

It will also help the country’s aim to regional integration, promote connectivity and stability across borders.

India has to complete a long process for SCO membership

India will attend the summit as an “Acceding Member” but will speak from the category of “Observers.”

At this upcoming summit, the process of India’s accession to the SCO will start with a signature on the ‘base document’ which is called the ‘Memorandum of Obligations.

The Memorandum of Obligations will begin a process of more intense engagement. The memorandum will also provide opportunity to intensify anti-terror cooperation between India and China.

Also, there is a schedule laid down for India to sign up to the other documents that are required that India needs to accede to and that will happen as the year go by. India would have to sign at least 30 sets of documents.

Nepal joins SCO grouping as dialogue partner. Azerbaijan also officially became a SCO dialogue partner.

Why India shouldn’t join SCO?

Not much compatibility between India’s security interest vs Chinese security interest.

China does not look upon Paki sponsored anti-India organizations such as Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Harkt-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

So, if India tries to move any resolution / blockade against such groups, the motion will not garner support from China and its puppet nations SCO.

China itself a Cyber bully o Terrorists now using cyberspace to recruit new people, hack websites and

even planning FINANCIAL terrorism. SCO can help fighting against them. o But one of our main cyber security threats= (State-sponsored) Chinese

hackers. o So, it’ll be futile exercise to cooperate with China dominated SCO.

Astana to Host SCO Summit

Cholpon Ata- Astana, the Kazakh capital is hosting the two-day summit of the SCO.

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The 2017 summit would gather the leaders of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and would be the first one with Islamabad and New Delhi as full-fledged members of the international organization.

The meeting will focus on prevention and elimination of emergency situations. Home Minister is leading the Indian delegation The next summit of the organization would take place in 2018 in China.

Arab League League of Arab States is a regional organization of Arab countries in and around North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Arabia. It was formed in Cairo on 1945 with six members.

it has its headquarters at Cairo, Egypt Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia,

and Syria. Currently, the League has 22 members, but Syria's participation has been

suspended since November 2011, as a consequence of government repression during the Syrian Civil War.

The League's main goal is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries.

4 observer states : Brazil, Eritrea, India Venezuela Objectives

The objectives of the League, as stated in Article 2 of the Pact, are to draw closer relations between member-states and coordinate their political activities; safeguard their independence and sovereignty; promote the interests of the Arab countries; mediate in disputes between members or between members and a third party; promote cooperation in the matters relating to trade, customs, currency, agriculture, industry, communications including railways, roads, aviation, navigation, and posts and telegraphs, cultural matters and matters connected with nationality, passport, visas, execution of judgments and extradition, social welfare matters and health matters.

India and Arab league India-Arab League talks: Sushma Swaraj in Bahrain, terror tops agenda

India and the Arab League vowed to combat terrorism and called for developing a strategy to “eliminate” its sources and its funding.

While addressing the 1st Ministerial Meeting of Arab-India Cooperation, Ms. Swaraj also warned that those who “silently sponsor” terror groups could end up being used by them, in an apparent jibe at Pakistan.

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“Equally, we must delink religion from terror. The only distinction is between those who believe in humanity and those who do not. Terrorists use religion, but inflict harm on people of all faiths,”

Manama Declaration

The two sides discussed regional and global issues of mutual concern, including the Palestinian issue, developments in the Arab region and in South Asia, as well as counter-terrorism, Security Council reforms and nuclear disarmament.

Arab Spring

It is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests (both non-violent and violent), riots, and civil wars in the Arab world that began in 2010 in Tunisia with the Tunisian Revolution, when the people protested against their ruler Ben Ali who then fled to Saudi Arabia. This spread throughout the countries of the Arab League and its surroundings.

The Arab Spring is widely believed to have been instigated by dissatisfaction with the rule of local governments, particularly by youth and unions, though some have speculated that wide gaps in income levels may have had a hand as well.

Numerous factors led to the protests, including issues such as dictatorship or absolute monarchy, human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, and a number of demographic structural factors, such as a large percentage of educated but dissatisfied youth within the entire population. The protests constituted the most dramatic wave of social and political unrest in Tunisia in three decades

Catalysts for the revolts in all Northern African and Persian Gulf countries included the concentration of wealth in the hands of autocrats in power for decades, insufficient transparency of its redistribution, corruption, and especially the refusal of the youth to accept the status quo.

Objective The demands reflect a desire among the masses, particularly the new

generation of young and educated, to be liberated from the reins of the old and authoritarian leadership and play a role in the decision making process of the state.

Till date, the protests have overthrown four long serving dictators — Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen.

Implications There is no early prospect of democracy taking hold in the region. The new

regimes are likely to be even more repressive. They will use repression and inducements to subdue protests and perpetuate themselves.

A fall of Syrian regime will change the balance of power. The so called Shia “axis of resistance” consisting of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon will be weakened.

Extremism will grow exponentially, affecting not only the region but globally. Great anxiety in other monarchies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan Shia-Sunni rivalry enhanced

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The outside powers have taken the opportunity to strengthen their interests by intervening in the conflicts

The regional security scenario in West Asia has worsened with the arrival of the Arab Spring.

It is now being touted as a failure because Many Arab Spring countries like Iraq, Syria etc have descended into utter chaos

and anarchy post the uprising. It has not toppled regimes or broken status quos like it set out to do. Barring Tunisia none of the countries involved is a vibrant people-centric

democracy today. Most conservative and reactionary regimes are still holding power today like

Saudi and Iran. The Arab Spring has led to horrific human rights violations in many countries where

the it took place.eg: Bahrain’s shia populace has been subject violent crackdown. Problems of the Middle East today like the IS etc took away some of the frustrated

youth of these nations into anarchic paths. Military intervention has led to further bloodshed in countries like Egypt.

Arab spring is now commonly referred to as Arab winter, reflecting the failure of protests movements to bring about change in the region. Implications for India

There are nearly 6.5 million Indians living and working in the West Asian region. According to a World Bank report India received US $ 70 billion in remittances

during 2012 and a majority of the remittances came from the region The region is also vital for India's energy security. Nearly two-thirds of our

hydrocarbon imports are from this region. Jasmine Revolution may refer to:

The Tunisian revolution in which President Zine was forced out of the presidency by popular protests was called the "Jasmine Revolution" by many media organisations

The Arab Spring, which began with the Tunisian revolution, was also called the "Jasmine Revolution" by some

Dhaka-Istanbul freight corridor

It is an international railway network project connecting five countries: Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor of India will be a part of this corridor.

India already has connectivity with Bangladesh and Pakistan. But there is a proposal to extend this linkage to Istanbul (Turkey).

This proposed “Trans-Asian Railway (TAR)” or the “ITI-DKD” (Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad; Delhi-Kolkata Dhaka) corridor will be 6,000 km long, covering Dhaka-Kolkata-Delhi-Amritsar-Lahore-Islamabad-Zahedan Tehran- Istanbul.

There is also a proposal to extend this corridor to Yangon (Myanmar). Thus, the “ITI-DKD-Y” corridor could become one of the major international rail corridors in the world.

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The feasibility studies of the strategic route connecting the capitals of the countries have been done by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) as part of its TAR project for an integrated freight network across Europe and Asia.

A meeting was organised in New Delhi by the UNESCAP with the Ministry of Railways and Organisation for Co-operation between Railways, to deliberate on the concept and remove bottlenecks.

Although Bhutan and Afghanistan are not connected with railway route. o Bhutan is connected by road to Kolkata o Afghanistan by road from railway station Quetta. o Nepal is also connected to this corridor from southern town Birgunj to

Kolkata. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf originally (and still colloquially) known as the Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq. Its member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The Charter of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.

All current member states are monarchies, including three constitutional monarchies (Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain),two absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Oman), and one federal monarchy (the United Arab Emirates, which is composed of six member states, each of which is an absolute monarchy with its own emir).

There have been discussions regarding the future membership of Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen.

Objective

The GCC Charter states that the basic objectives are to have coordination, integration and inter-connection between Member States in all fields, strengthening ties between their peoples, formulating similar regulations in various fields such as economy, finance, trade, customs, tourism, legislation, administration, as well as fostering scientific and technical progress in industry, mining, agriculture, water and animal resources, establishing scientific research centres, setting up joint ventures, and encouraging cooperation of the private sector.

India has a vital stake in the stability, security and economic well-being of the Gulf. India-Arab Partnership

Fifth India-Arab partnership forum is being held in Oman. Minister of State for External Affairs, M J Akbar is leading the Indian delegation.

The conference is being organised by Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) in collaboration with Arab League Secretariat, Federation of Indian

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Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), General Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the Arab Countries (GUCCIAC) and Federation of the Arab Business (FAB).

The theme of Conference is “Partnership towards Innovation and Information Technology Co-operation.”

Objective to enhance the economic relations between India and Arab countries and Oman.

The conference will hold panel discussions on the topics identified for the conference – technology and innovation, the renewable energy and clean technology, the health and drug industry, the higher education and skill development, food security and safety and tourism.

Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT)

IMAFT was created by Saudi Arabia in December 2015 to combat the Islamic State and other groups.

Currently, it has 39 members, including Turkey and Malaysia. It is based at a command centre in Riyadh.

The coalition was envisaged to serve as a platform for security cooperation, including provision of training, equipment and troops, and involvement of religious scholars for dealing with extremism.

The coalition includes countries like Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Sudan, Malaysia, Egypt, and Yemen among others.

The IMA has stated that its primary objective is to protect Muslim countries from all terrorist groups and terrorist organizations irrespective of their sect and name

The IMA affirmed that it would operate in line with the United Nations and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) provisions on terrorism.

Ex-Pak army chief Raheel Sharif appointed head of Islamic anti-terror alliance

Former Pakistan Army chief Raheel Sharif has been made the head of a 39-nation military coalition formed by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. In safeguarding the true values of Islam and the Muslims, the organization has taken various steps to

remove misperceptions and has strongly advocated elimination of discrimination against Muslims in all forms and manifestations. OIC statement on Kashmir No, India need not bother:

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It is the second largest global organization after the UN and has members spanning 4 continents. But it does not have the ability to solve problems that its charter was supposed to address.

Lack of its firm and resolute actions in many crises like the ongoing Syrian crisis, rise of ISIS, Rohingya problem in Myanmar despite them pleading for OIC help, Israel Palestine and other issues shows it as a toothless tiger.

Kashmir is an integral part of India and Art 370 has envisaged rights to the state within the Indian constitution.

India has never endorsed the third party intervention in any internal matter of the country and the same goes with the Kashmir issue as well. OIC does not have the locus standi on any internal matter of India.

OIC is a Muslim dominated organization so it tends to give decisions on the grounds of religion favoritism and not any proper system of discussion.

The crisis in OIC is already visible in the rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia pulling it apart and making it dysfunctional.

India is not part of OIC so it is not obligated to listen to it. But there are some concerns India needs to look into:

Pakistan taking up the Kashmir issue to the global arena again and again is a concern to India. So India and Pakistan need to solve the issue amicably.

The countries like Bangladesh, Maldives who are part of OIC have remained silent on Kashmir issue during the OIC decision. This is a concern too.

Schemes similar to UDAAN must be launched in Kashmir and there has to be revived focus on development and employment so that regular disturbances can be reduced. This will also make India’s stand stronger over Kashmir in the international arena.

South Asia Gas Enterprise (SAGE)

SAGE is promoted by the New Delhi based Siddho Mal Group, in Joint Venture with a UK-based Deepwater Technology Company.

SAGE is working with a Global Consortium of some of the most reputed companies in the field of Deepwater Pipelines, to create a Multi Billion Dollar "Energy Corridor" that can transport gas from the Middle East to India, bypassing the land route through Pakistan.

Reclaiming the Gulf

When the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, arrives in Delhi as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations this week, he will only be the third leader in 70 years from the Middle East to grace the occasion.

Delhi had hosted only two other leaders — the president of Iran, Mohammed Khatami (2003), and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (2006).

An independent approach to the region

Is a commitment to omni-directional engagement

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Sustained diplomatic outreach About le9-point Agenda for India’s Look-West Policy: veraging the Islamic The centrality of Pakistan An enduring commitment to stability in Afghanistan Accelerate economic integration Defence diplomacy Coping with territorial changes in the Gulf

Look West Policy

After successfully implementing a “Look East” policy to promote trade and investment with its Asian neighbors, India has adopted a similar policy toward West Asia. The UPA Government has launched the “Look West” policy, in recognition of the fact that:

The Gulf region has become a major economic partner, is a home to over 4 million Indians and a major source of oil and gas.

This has resulted in increased interaction, enhanced trade and economic relations and launch of negotiations towards FTA with the Gulf Cooperation Countries Council (GCC) countries. The Government is keen to cooperate with the Gulf countries in the promotion of peace and stability in the region. It has appointed a Special Envoy for the Gulf and West Asia.

India’s interest in the Gulf region: Indian stakes and interests in the Gulf region are as obvious as they are immense.

Geographically, the Gulf is India’s extended neighborhood and the only link with the no less vital Central Asia, with Pakistan denying this country transit rights and Afghanistan having sunk into chaos. Historically, a relationship between the subcontinent and the Gulf goes back to ancient, pre-Islamic days. Britain controlled the Gulf littoral tightly because of its overwhelming strategic importance for the defence of India, the brightest jewel in the crown. The common minimum programme of the congress led coalition talks about the importance of developing relations with west Asia. But the region is much more than an arena of confrontation between Israel and the Arabs. The geographical conception of West Asia has significantly expanded since the collapse of the Soviet Union and is now called the “Greater Middle East”.

This region shares a long historical association with India. It is the source for India’s ever expanding needs of energy. It is also huge markets for Indian goods, services and skilled manpower. Advantages of ‘Look-West’ Policy

There are number of advantages outlined in the Look-West Policy- A constructive bold “look-west” policy from India would acknowledge the

geopolitical significance of Pakistan. Instead of a perennial obstacle to the Greater Middle East, Pakistan could become a

link connecting the sub continent to the energy rich Persian Gulf and Central Asia. Pakistan could become the transit route for the movement of goods, people and

energy between India and the greater Middle East.

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There are good reasons to believe Pakistan has begun to move the self-perception of its location from geopolitics to geo-economics.

Even more important, a quiet “look-East policy has developed in Pakistan in recent years. Its initial success is reflected in Pakistan’s incipient admissions latter this month into the security arm of the Association of South Asian Nations, the ASEAN regional forum.

India will gain overland access to Afghanistan, Iran and central Asia. Pakistan in turn will be able to trade along with Indian highways with Nepal,

Bangladesh, and South East Asia. India will develop access to Afghanistan and central Asia through Iran. Pakistan also similarly has to circumnavigate India to get to the east. The essence of this policy was that an India-Pakistan rapprochement would be

meaningful. Unless the potential for both regional economic integration in the sub-continent as

well as trans-regional cooperation involving South Asia, Central Asia, and the Gulf would be explored

Pakistan could become the transit hub of commercial highways and energy pipeline Pakistan’s long term economic interests coincide with India’s “look-west” policy. The resolution of the Kashmir question is the key to unleashing the geo-economic

potential of the region. That attitude need not dampen the immediate prospects of substantiative cooperation between India and Pakistan more important, Pakistan itself has de-linked the construction of overland pipelines from Iran and central Asia to India from its emphasis that Kashmir is the core issue.

The construction of pipelines across Pakistan’s territory would also make it easy to build highways linking India with Iran and Afghanistan.

India could offer to negotiate trade and transit treaties involving all the four countries.

India could also propose cooperation with Pakistan in promoting free trade between South Asia and the Gulf cooperation council. Any final settlement of the Kashmir question would inevitably involve innovative political cooperation across the divided state. It would also entail the complete normalisation of India-Pakistan relations and the transformation of the borders.

Projects such as natural gas pipelines, interconnected electricity grids, and trans-national highways will unveil the new strategic conception of Pakistan as India’s gateway to the West. India, inturm, will be Pakistan’s bridge to the east.

9-point Agenda for India’s Look-West Policy: India has been outdone by Beijing in the context of securing a tight and improved

relation with West Asia in the wake of its inertia to develop a good economic integration with Pakistan and the Gulf countries. Fast-forwarding free trade negotiations with the six-nation Gulf Coordination Council (GCC), overcoming obstacles to economic cooperation with Pakistan, and raising India’s commercial profile in Africa must be at the top of the agenda for a ‘Look West’. India will have to go beyond makeshift response to individual crises. It has to focus on every single crisis and issues starting from energy-security to counter-terrorism in its western neighbourhood.

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Here are nine possible elements that could fit into what we might call a ‘pertinent look-West’ policy.

The first is an independent approach to the region. India’s interests in the region stand on their own. Too often an ‘independent foreign policy’ has been defined as simply opposing Washington. So long as the US remains the principal power shaping the region, New Delhi must find ways to maximise regional cooperation with the US, where our interests converge and minimise the negative consequences when they diverge.

The second is a commitment to omni-directional engagement. The arc of crisis is beset by severe internal contradictions. Given their multiple interests in the Middle East, great powers do not take sides between Arabs and Israel, the Shia and Sunni, or even Kabul and Islamabad until it becomes absolutely unavoidable. India too must shed its past ideological approach and focus on pragmatic engagement of all sides.

The third is sustained diplomatic outreach. India must extend its bilateral visits to all these countries for greater cooperation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has visited already to Afghanistan. The last time an Indian external affairs minister visited Saudi Arabia was in 2001. hence bilateral visits including Ministerial and secretary level talks could enrich the policy.

The fourth is about leveraging the Islamic. India’s links to its western neighbours are multifarious and include the cultural, political, economic and religious. If New Delhi has the political imagination, the Indian Muslim community, instead of being seen as a political entity, could easily become a potent force in India’s ‘Look West’ policy.

The fifth is the centrality of Pakistan. Whether we like it or not, normalisation of relations with Pakistan holds the key to a successful ‘Look West’ policy. Whether it is in gaining overland access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, ensuring India’s energy security, expanding ties with the Gulf, or limiting the threat of Islamic extremism and terrorism in the subcontinent, cooperation with Pakistan is essential.

The sixth is an enduring commitment to stability in Afghanistan. Preventing a destabilisation of Kabul by the Taliban has already emerged as one of the highest priorities for India’s national security strategy. As Pak-Afghan ties sink to lower depths, India faces a new tension between improving ties with Pakistan and strengthening the Karzai regime. The answer must necessarily lie in New Delhi taking the initiative for a triangular political and economic cooperation and encouraging Islamabad and Kabul to limit their conflict.

The seventh, is to accelerate economic integration between the India and the GCC, Pakistan etc. everybody knows that a large part of the success of the Look-East Policy resulted in the increased trade and economic reelations. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has authorized the Union Commerce and External Affairs Ministries to begin negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to conclude a India-GCC Free Trade Agreement. He has also approved negotiations with individual member countries of GCC, namely, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement covering services sector and investment.

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The eighth element is defence diplomacy. As conflicts deepen in our western neighbourhood, many nations would look towards increased security cooperation with New Delhi. India, in turn, needs an active engagement with the armed forces of the region, which should include arms transfers. India also needs new guidelines on when it would deploy its armies in the region. India has a long tradition of sending troops to the Middle East and Africa on peacekeeping missions.

An independent approach to the region Is a commitment to omni-directional engagement Sustained diplomatic outreach About leveraging the Islamic The centrality of Pakistan An enduring commitment to stability in Afghanistan Accelerate economic integration Defence diplomacy Coping with territorial changes in the Gulf

Qatar diplomatic crisis

Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar in a move to isolate the nation.

Saudi Arabia said it took the decision because of Qatar’s “embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising the region”, including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Islamic State and groups supported by Iran.

Historical reasons:

Qatar’s foreign policy has always been rather different than that of the rest of the Gulf States. While Bahrain largely follows Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy, Qatar has diverged from other members of the GCC.

After the Arab Spring, Qatar aligned itself with Islamist political parties such as Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood which has been declared as a terrorist group by Saudi Arabia and United States.

Qatar’s state funded news network Al Jazeera also seems to support these groups as champions of democracy.

Qatar was also amongst the most active backers of Islamist fighters in rebellions in Syria and Libya. This coupled with the fact that Qatar enjoys close ties with Tehran, has bothered the Saudi led bloc.

Qatar has also been accused of backing Yemen’s Houthi rebels which is a startling claim given that Qatar, until the day before the crisis, was part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels, who are allegedly backed by Iran and ex-President Saleh.

What does it mean for the oil price?

Oil prices are always sensitive to geopolitical tensions and the prospect of any disruption to production.

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The group recently agreed to cut oil production to help prop up prices; some investors are concerned that the dispute with Qatar could affect that deal. That plan to boost prices has also been undermined by rising oil output in the US.

The row has also fanned concerns about the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. Qatar is the world’s biggest supplier of LNG and Egypt and UAE are key recipients. Although Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain have all closed transport links with Qatar, the state can still ship out both LNG and oil to other countries by sea.

The diplomatic crisis is also the latest complication for the 2022 World Cup, which Qatar is preparing to host. If the travel restrictions remain in place long term, they could keep supplies, workers and eventually soccer fans from moving freely in and out of the country. The tournament is already facing allegations of worker misconduct, and it had to slash the budget for the soccer tournament by more than 40% because of the falling price of oil.

How will this affect India?

Indians are the largest expatriate community in Qatar, the same way they are in Saudi Arabia and the UAE — the two key countries who are in the opposite camp. And, the immediate worry is the trouble Indians would face as measures to isolate Qatar would hit them there in terms of their travel.

India also has robust defence and energy ties with Qatar. India is the third largest export destination for Qatar (behind Japan and South Korea) and ranks at 10th position for Qatar’s imports.

The Gulf Arab state is the largest supplier of LNG to India, accounting for over 65% of India’s global import and 15% of Qatar’s export of LNG with an annual import of 7.5 million metric tons (MMT) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) under a long-term contract between Petronet LNG of India and RasGas Co Ltd of Qatar, and some spot purchases by Indian companies from time to time.

India also imports ethylene, propylene, ammonia, urea and polyethene from Qatar. Therefore, the balance of trade continues to be heavily in Qatar’s favour.

While the current volume of Qatari FDI in India is modest, Qatar’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and other state-owned entities, as well as Qatari private investors, are looking at investment options in infrastructure in India, including in real estate, roads and highways, airports amd airlines

India’s corporate sector too is increasingly pursuing business opportunities in Qatar. A number of reputed Indian companies, particularly in construction/infrastructure and IT, have operations in Qatar.