International and Bilateral Issues

India, Nepal ink economic pacts(India-Nepal Talk Concluded)

• Breaking the stagnation that marked bilateral relations over the past two years, India and Nepal signed major economic agreements, aimed at enhancing Indian investment and developmental aid
• The two sides formalised the long pending Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA), which commits one State to providing compensation to commercial entities, whose country of origin is the other. This applies particularly in cases of wars, national emergency, and armed conflict.
• Investments from either country in the territory of the other country are to be accorded ‘National Treatment' and ‘Most Favoured Nation' treatment. It also provides for elaborate dispute resolution mechanisms between investors and the government concerned, and between governments, including international arbitration.
• Nepal had asked for soft loans of $1 billion, the final pact provided a $250-million line of credit to Nepal to finance infrastructure projects, at the concessional rate of interest of 1.75 per cent annually. An MoU in this regard was signed by India's Exim Bank and Nepal's Finance Ministry.
• India also provided grant assistance for a goitre control programme in Nepal. Despite extensive negotiations, the two sides failed to agree on a double taxation avoidance agreement which was on the agenda.
• “There is scope in infrastructure, hydropower, tourism, agro and food processing, mining, finance, education, health, and information, communication and technology sectors. Nepal also has human resources with the skills and positive attitude towards work.” Mr. Bhattarai added that Nepal had simplified tax structures, and got preferential treatment in international trade due to its status as a Least Developed Country.
• India has also extended its support to the peace and constitutional process.

• We have planned Special Economic Zones targeting Indian, Chinese and other markets for which infrastructure development is currently underway.
• Other measures include setting up a Social Security Fund for better industrial relations and constituting a Board of Investments chaired by the Prime Minister
• Nepal's plans to announce 2012 as ‘Investment Year' for putting up different infrastructure and business projects for large scale investments by joint ventures or foreign companies.
• India remains a significant economic partner of Nepal and the single largest source of our foreign investment.
• During 2010-11, bilateral trade stood at $4 billion.
• Nepal's trade deficit with India was $3 billion.

India-Malaysia bilateral trade seen rising to $15 billion by 2015

• India-Malaysia bilateral trade is expected to touch $15 billion by 2015
• India is Malaysia's largest trading partner among countries of the South, excluding ASEAN nations and China
• The two countries have concrete trade relations through comprehensive economic cooperation agreement. For India, Malaysia is the second largest trading partner in the ASEAN region after Singapore

Our troops will be out of Iraq by year-end: Obama

• President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end.
• The U.S. military presence in Iraq stands at just under 40,000. All U.S. troops are to exit the country in accordance with a deal struck between the countries in 2008 when George W. Bush was President.

China cautions against Western intervention

• China on Friday called for an “inclusive political transition” to begin in Libya following the death of Qadhafi, but reiterated its unease over Western-backed interventions in the Arab world as calls grow for action against Yemen.
• Democracy is the opposite of individual authoritarianism. However, democracy is not limited only to the process of a one-person, one-vote system. But in many countries, this format has generated a mess similar to that generated by authoritarian rule.

More austerity steps in Greece

• Parliament in Athens passed a bill on Thursday introducing further austerity measures to meet the stringent bail-out conditions laid down by the Troika composed of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
• Greece should receive its sixth bail-out package of 8 billion Euros as quickly as possible
• he absence of the IMF signature immediately alerted investors and markets to dissent
• Almost all the country's economic indicators are red, except perhaps for exports which showed a 20 per cent rise.

Russia calls for probe into death

• Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for an international probe into the death of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi and the role of NATO forces in his capture.
• available video from Libya showed that Qadhafi was captured alive and then “deprived of life” in apparent violation of international humanitarian rules for armed conflicts.
• The NATO raid on the convoy had nothing to do with the United Nations mandate to protect civilian population
• We do not want outside forces to interfere in such conflicts — God forbid they happen again — with gross violation of international law, including U.N. Security Council resolutions

The killing of Qadhafi

• The violent death of Col. Muammar Qadhafi is the worst possible beginning for a new Libya where 42 years of dictatorial and whimsical rule by a strongman are supposed to make way for democratic structures.
• The exact circumstances in which Col. Qadhafi was killed are unclear.
• But reports from the ground suggest he was executed in cold blood.
• Libya has failed its first democratic test, with vengeance and bloodlust triumphing over due process, the rule of law, and justice.
• The role of western powers, especially the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, through this sorry saga of violent regime change reiterates the question that has been asked ever since NATO began bombing Libya, ostensibly as a “humanitarian intervention” authorised by the United Nations Security Council: does the West want democracy in Libya or just any friendly regime that will give it access to the country's oil?
• It is disappointing that India, which opposed external intervention in Libya, has expressed no concern at Qadhafi's violent end.
• he was a ruthless dictator, and his regime was infamous for crushing dissent by imprisoning, torturing, and killing a large number of political opponents. Qadhafi's Libya was also associated with deadly terrorist acts in Europe, including the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am plane over Lockerbie in Scotland, for which the world imposed sanctions on the country.
• It was only after 9/11 that both the West and Qadhafi saw opportunities in compromise: after condemning Osama bin Laden, he gave up Libya's nuclear programme and surrendered two suspects in the Lockerbie bombing, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.