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Business / Trade in Southern Asia

  • India’s African safari

    INDIA, 2016/07/04 June 2016 has seen an unprecedented intensification of India’s relationship with Africa. In the initial week, Vice President Hamid Ansari visited Tunisia and Morocco. In the second week, President Pranab Mukherjee launched his whirlwind tour of Western and Southern Africa, covering Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Namibia. And, in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa. Ever since the Third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) in 2015, Modi has been building bridges with African nations, soliciting support for a host of multilateral initiatives. It’s as well unabashedly about business, a good example of geo-politics conference geo-economics. For instance, Ansari’s visit to Morocco and Tunisia are key, because India imports phosphate — a critical raw material for fertiliser production — from these nations. Ansari as well inaugurated an India-Morocco Chamber of Commerce during his trip to Rabat.
  • 2016 EU-India Summit: Platform For Change?

    CHINA, 2016/03/20 On 30 March 2016, India and the European Union (EU) will meet for a 13th summit. The negotiations about a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will presumably be on top of the schedule. It will be the initial summit since 2012, which was before on an annual basis and was established in 2000. What can be the opportunities and challenges of a strengthened EU-India partnership in light of the upcoming Summit? Election season in both India and the EU put the Summit on the backburner. Moreover, in the meantime, certain complications in EU-India relations arose next the EU prohibited the import of 700 medicines from India in 2015, and the diplomatic fallout next the death of two Indian fishermen shot by Italian marines in 2012.
  • Africa, India keen on strengthening bilateral relations

    INDIA, 2016/03/19 Trade between India and Africa has risen several folds over the years. According to statistics, bilateral trade grew to 72 billion US dollars in the fiscal 2014-15 from 30 billion in 2007. It is against this backdrop that the 11th India-Africa Business Conclave in New Delhi was aimed at boosting bilateral relations between the two. The summit was attended by over 400 delegates from 37 African nations.
  • Africa-India cooperation has snapped into focus as top leaders seek to foster closer relations.

    INDIA, 2016/01/30 Following a high level summit in October, Africa-India cooperation has snapped into focus as top leaders seek to foster closer relations. During the summit, India’s expertise in agriculture, business services and ICT were much vaunted, as was the subcontinent’s longstanding trade and migration relationships with Africa – particularly on the eastern and southern coasts. However, maritime security and commerce is an extra area in which African nations are seeking better collaboration with India. Securing coastlines from the threat of piracy, safeguarding ecological systems and hampering illegal fishing activities are some of the key ‘Blue Economy’ areas they wish to address.
  • The newly created Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has shortly got the momentum

    AFGHANISTAN, 2015/12/03 The newly created Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has in a little while got the momentum as an economic hub for the nations of the region. The EEU includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia as its members, whereas; the Organization is a continuation of contemplation for establishing the integration projects by the Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia since 2007. The Organization fundamentally promotes the ideas of streamlining the flow and transportation of services and goods between the member states, therefore, it greatly attracts the interests of a lot of stakeholders and according to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, a lot of international organizations and the economic giants like China has shown great interest in the creation of free trade zones through the EEU. The present political and economic importance of the South and Central Asian region along with free trade and economic potential across the Eurasian region greatly appeals almost each regional and international country, whether may they be developed or developing country seems eager approaching in bilateral and multilateral engagements with these organizations and the states in the region. The cooperation that is vital to the a lot of states’ national interests consists of the fields of security, economic, energy, bilateral, free trade, scientific education and cultural interactions. Most particularly, the Russian Federation and China have leading ambitious roles in region’s economic and infrastructural developments. In addition, the growing significance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the present scenario has further enabled China and Russia to become a dominant player on the world economic and political arena. This in turn has as well provided small or developing nations to benefit from the mutual benefit efforts of the SCO, EEU and other forums for their industrialization and national economic development goals.
  • Tajikistan and Pakistan signed eight agreements on cooperation

    PAKISTAN, 2015/11/18 Tajikistan and Pakistan signed eight agreements on cooperation in the fields of power, commerce and defense to enhance bilateral relation through strengthening economic and parliamentary ties between the two nations. The agreements were signed during a conference of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on November 11-12. Both sides stressed importance of strengthening ties between the nations at the governmental level for the mutual benefits of the two nations.
  • Africa-India: Analyzing The Conditions And Stakes Of A Win-Win Partnership

    INDIA, 2015/11/17 The Indo-African partnership has been rooted in the spirit of the Afro-Asian conference held at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955. Cemented by a common stand against colonization and racism, today this partnership is at a turning point motored by the stellar economic increase in the two regions and the growing exchange between them. The goal of shared development through cooperation between the two regions is a perspective that is in line with the reduction of world poverty as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Understandably, the third edition of the Africa-India Forum Summit generates a lot of interest. The Summit this year was much larger than in previous years, with participation from 54 African nations. Participation in the previous two summits, held in 2008 and 2011, was limited to Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in accord with the Banjul Agreement. The 2015 Summit has given better privilege to bilateral endeavours. That said, the implication of regional actors is an investment of the India-Africa partnership and should continue, in the interest of promoting regional development in Africa. Additionally, regional cooperation provides a platform for opinion building and sharing common positions in international organizations. Meanwhile, keeping the regional dimension alive, the unprecedented levels of participation in the third Summit is an opportunity to be explored. The scale of this Summit provides an occasion to renew and further accelerate the India-Africa partnership.
  • BRICS leaders at G-20 summit

    CHINA, 2015/11/16 Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday called on BRICS nations to strengthen confidence in increase and boost coordination within the emerging-market bloc so as to jointly cope with world challenges. Acknowledging that the five nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are facing increasing complexities and difficulties and experiencing slower increase, Xi proposed that they upgrade their economic structures for long-term development. “China stands ready to share development opportunities with other BRICS nations and lift our economic cooperation,” he said at a BRICS leaders’ conference held in the Turkish resort city of Antalya on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) summit. “Pure gold fears no fire,” Xi stressed. “As long as we hold firm confidence and strengthen coordination, the BRICS nations will surely sail through winds and waves.”
  • Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif talks with U.S. President Barack Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2014

    PAKISTAN, 2015/11/11 International rating agencies praise Pakistan over evolution made on the security front, while the country experiences increased political stability and is poised to be the world’s next economic turnaround story. In spite of these advances, Pakistan is still believed to be a country in turmoil, which is far from the realities on the ground Upon an invitation from President Barack Obama, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif is in Washington today for a conference at the White Home, and he is set to bring good news. Initial and foremost, Mr. Sharif will tell of an encouraging record on security that will be received here with a sense of relief. Indeed, his country of 180 million is situated in one of the majority volatile regions on the planet, tucked next to Iran and Afghanistan – with which it shares a long border – in the west, China to the north and India to the east.
  • China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Trade Crossroads

    CHINA, 2015/11/11 Op-Ed: Sirajuddin Aziz, President and CEO of Habib Metro Bank says that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will bring in $46 billion worth of Chinese investment The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is being referred to as a game changer, and rightfully so. Pakistan is strategically located on the China-Middle East and China-Central Asia routes. Gwadar port in Pakistan offers China the prospect of access to the warm waters of the Persian Gulf through a ‘Maritime Silk Route’. It as well offers the prospect of significantly reducing the region’s cost of doing business in Africa, Europe, and the Americas.