Career diplomat Patrick John Rata, who is currently serving as the Acting High Commissioner in Colombo, was named the next High Commissioner of New Zealand to India at a time when Auckland expressed strong interest in improving its political, trade, economic, social and cultural ties.
Rata's appointment was among a clutch of crucial diplomatic posts announced by New Zealand. Besides replacing Rata in Colombo with David Pine, Andrew Needs was named the High Commissioner to Australia, and Mark Trainor Ambassador to Russia.
Mar 23, 2024
India Elected Co-Chair of ITU's Digital Innovation Board
Neeraj Mittal, Secretary of India's Department of Telecommunications, led a significant delegation to Geneva for strategic meetings at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Headquarters. The aim was to enhance collaboration and explore innovative initiatives in telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors.
Neeraj Mittal was unanimously elected as the co-chair of the Digital Innovation Board of ITU, which operates under the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development.
The Digital Innovation Board comprises ministers and vice ministers of telecom/ICT from 23 member countries of ITU, with a mission to foster innovation and entrepreneurship for a more inclusive digital future.
The alliance aims to address significant unmet needs of ITU Membership in innovation, as outlined in the Kigali Action Plan and outcomes of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022.
It operates through three main vehicles: the Digital Transformation Lab, Network of Acceleration Centres, and the Digital Innovation Board.
Meetings with ITU officials, including Dr. Cosmos Zavazava, focused on scaling up ITU Area Office India, Digital Transformation Lab, Acceleration centres, and the Global Innovation Centre in India.
Mittal proposed hosting the next meeting of the Digital Innovation Board in India alongside the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) 2024.
Bilateral discussions with Japan and Bahrain emphasised collaboration on AI, 5G use cases, cybersecurity, and mutual revisiting of MOUs on ICT.
Mar 22, 2024
United Nations Unanimously Adopts First Global Resolution on Artificial Intelligence
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously adopted the first global resolution on artificial intelligence (AI). The resolution is aimed at encouraging personal data protection, monitoring AI for risks, and safeguarding human rights.
The nonbinding resolution was proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by China and 121 other nations.
As per the officials, it took three months to negotiate and advocate the strengthening of privacy policies.
Mar 21, 2024
Portugal's President Names Centre-right Leader Montenegro as PM
Portugal's President named Luis Montenegro, head of the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), as the country's new Prime Minister and invited him to form a minority government after eight years of Socialist rule.
The AD won a parliamentary election by a slim margin, far short of a working majority. Montenegro has repeatedly said that his party is prepared to govern on its own and will not negotiate a broad formal agreement with the far-right party Chega to work together.
Chega emerged as a political force after quadrupling its parliamentary representation - a first for a far-right party since the fall of a fascist dictatorship 50 years ago.
An AD government will be dependent on piecemeal deals in parliament with Chega or the left wing to pass legislation, making it potentially unstable.
Overall, the AD won 80 seats in the 230-seat legislature, followed by the Socialists at 78 seats and Chega, which was founded just five years ago, with 50.
Indonesia: Prabowo Subianto Confirmed as President-elect
Indonesia's Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto was declared the winner of last month's (February) presidential election in the world's third largest democracy.
Prabowo appealed for unity as his two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, vowed to contest the result.
The former general, who had been dogged by allegations of human rights abuse for decades, won 58.59% of the votes.
He will assume office in October, taking over from President Joko Widodo, who is more popularly known as Jokowi.
Mar 20, 2024
The World's Happiest Countries in 2024
Finland remained the world's happiest country for a seventh straight year in an annual UN-sponsored World Happiness Report published. India ranked 126, the same as last year, in the happiness index.
Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.
Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.
For the first time since the report was published more than a decade ago, the United States and Germany were not among the 20 happiest nations, coming in 23rd and 24th respectively.
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