General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - February 2017

Feb 2017

May 09, 2023

Forty-second ASEAN Summit Begins in Indonesia

The 42nd Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in Indonesia with a theme of "ASEAN Affairs: Epicentre of Growth." The summit aimed to demonstrate the bloc's hopes and efforts to become the centre and driving force behind global development.
President Joko Widodo, who holds the presidency of the bloc, emphasized the enormous potential of the ASEAN region, which has a total population of around 650 million inhabitants and consistently outperforms the world average in terms of economic growth. He called on member countries to unite in terms of production power to make Southeast Asia the centre of global growth.

Minister Piyush Goyal Attends 6th India- Canada Ministerial Dialogue

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Mary Ng, Canada's Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business, and Economic Development, co-chaired the sixth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) in Ottawa. The MDTI serves as an institutional framework for discussing a broad range of trade and investment-related issues and areas for cooperation between the two countries.
The dialogue covered topics such as enhancing bilateral trade relations between India and Canada, investment promotion, cooperation in green transition, including critical minerals, and promoting business-to-business (B2B) engagements.
Additionally, Union Minister Piyush Goyal also reviewed India-Canada CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations. The CEPA negotiations were launched at the previous MDTI meeting in March 2022. Earlier, both Ministers launched CEPA negotiations with the possibility of having an interim agreement or EPTA (Early Progress Trade Agreement). Since then, seven rounds of negotiations have been held. India and Canada have a growing trade relationship, although the trade volume between the two countries has the potential for further expansion.

May 08, 2023

Indian-American Neera Tanden is Domestic Policy Advisor of UD President Biden

United States President Joe Biden named Indian-American Neera Tanden as his Domestic Policy Advisor to help him craft and implement his domestic policy agenda.
Tanden replaced Susan Rice as Biden's Domestic Policy Advisor.
Tanden is the first Asian-American to lead any of the three major White House policy councils in history.
As Senior Advisor and Staff Secretary, Neera oversaw decision-making processes across my domestic, economic and national security teams. She has 25 years of experience in public policy, has served three Presidents, and led one of the largest think tanks in the country for nearly a decade.

PM Modi to be Guest of Honour at France's Bastille Day Parade

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepted French President Emmanuel Macron's invitation to attend this year's (2023) Bastille Day Parade as Guest of Honour on July 14 in Paris.
To mark this milestone, an Indian armed forces contingent will participate in the Parade alongside their French counterparts. Prime Minister's visit is expected to herald the next phase in the India-France Strategic Partnership by setting new and ambitious goals for our strategic, cultural, scientific, academic, economic cooperation, including in a wide range of industries.

May 07, 2023

Britain to Start Free Trade with New Zealand and Australia

Britain's free trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia will come into force by the end of this month (May 2023), the leaders from the three nations said.
The announcement came while the Prime Ministers from the two Southern Hemisphere nations were in London for the coronation of King Charles III.
The deals are part of Britain's efforts to expand its economic ties after it left the European Union. Both deals were first agreed to in 2021.
New Zealand officials said that the deal will help boost sales of products like wine, butter, beef and honey, and will increase the size of its economy by up to 1 billion New Zealand dollars ($629 million).
For Australia the deal means more market access for its exporters.

May 06, 2023

UK Appoints Kang as Deputy Envoy to India

Harjinder Kang, Britain's Chief Negotiator for the India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) was named as the country's new Trade Commissioner to South Asia and Deputy High Commissioner for Western India.
"I am delighted to welcome Harjinder to this role. He has been an integral part of our India trade deal team," said UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch. Kang will succeed Alan Gemmell as Deputy High Commissioner.
He was born in Jalandhar and moved to the United Kingdom with his parents when he was just 3 years old.

May 04, 2023

Ajay Banga Becomes First Indian-American to Head World Bank

Ajay Banga was appointed as the next President of the World Bank, becoming the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution which looks forward to working with him at a time when it's tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries.
The Executive Directors of the World Bank selected Ajay Banga as President of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023.
In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history".
He is the first-ever Indian-American and Sikh-American to head either of the two top international financial institutions: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

India Ranks 161 in World Press Freedom Index

Media associations in the country voiced concern over India slipping 11 places to 161st rank in the World Press Freedom Index, 2023, published on May 2.
Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which publishes a yearly report on press freedom in countries across the world, had last year ranked India at 150 in a survey of 180 countries.
As per the RSF report, the situation has gone from 'problematic' to 'very bad' in three other countries: Tajikistan (down 1 at 153rd), India (down 11 at 161st) and Turkey (down 16 at 165th).

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