The Indian Weekender 2 June 2023

16
WORLD
Jaishankar, UK minister
discuss FTA, Indo-Pacific
Indian External Affairs Minister
S Jaishankar met UK’s
Minister of State for Foreign,
Commonwealth & Development
Office Lord Tariq Ahmad this
week and discussed a range
of issues, including Free Trade
Agreement (FTA), Indo-Pacific
and G20.
“Met with UK MOS Lord @
tariqahmadbt today in New Delhi.
Discussed a broad range of issues,
from FTA and South Asia to Indo-
Pacific and G20. Underlined the
obligation to ensure security
of our diplomatic missions and
prevent misuse of democratic
freedoms,” Jaishankar said in
a tweet. The UK and India are
working towards a mutually
beneficial FTA. The ninth round
of negotiations between India
and the UK was held April 24-28.
Ahmad landed in India on May 27,
and travelled to Jodhpur soon
after.
“...I arrived in Jodhpur, my
maternal ancestral home. 76
India, Singapore agree
to create lifelong
learning opportunities
India and Singapore agreed to creating
opportunities for lifelong learning and building
a future-ready workforce during Dharmendra
Pradhan’s visit to the city-state this week.
During his three-day visit, India’s education
minister day met the island country’s Deputy Prime
Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong on
strengthening cooperation between the two
countries, with a focus on deepening engagements
in skill development.
“Pleasure meeting DPM & Minister for Finance,
Singapore, @LawrenceWongST. Fruitful discussions
on strengthening the existing cooperation between
India and Singapore and deepening engagements
in skill development as well as technical and
vocational education,” Pradhan tweeted.
He further added, “The emerging future is a
world of unlimited opportunities.
Both DPM @LawrenceWongST and I agreed
to work together for mutual benefit, create
opportunities for lifelong learning, build a futureready
workforce and also to make knowledge
and skill development a key pillar of our
strategic partnership.”
During the meeting, Pradhan said under the
leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the
government launched the National Education
Policy (NEP) in 2020, which focuses on providing
early exposure to vocational education in middle
The Pakistani-American
community is planning a
bipartisan meeting of US
lawmakers in June to highlight
the political chaos in Pakistan,
Dawn newspaper has reported.
Taking to Twitter, California
Democrat Asif Mahmood, who
initiated the move, said, “The
situation is getting worse by the
day and it’s beyond the scope of
only letters and tweets.”
He added, “We have to move
to the next step: Conference/
hearing at Capitol Hill cosponsored
by Rep Brad Sherman, Rep Jim
Costa and me in the 3rd week of
June,” he added.
The purpose of this hearing,
and other similar efforts, “is to
curtail these atrocities by raising
UK's Minister of State at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Tariq Ahmad meets
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
years after my mother bid
farewell to the Blue City I say
‘Salaam Jodhpur- Namaste
Rajasthan’,” he said in a tweet.
“Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort
is steeped in a rich and diverse
history. Pleasure touring the
fort today to learn more about
its architecture, restoration and
conservation work,” he added.
The UK government said
Ahmad’s visit, focused on science,
technology and innovation,
those at the highest levels or
they will never stop”, Mahmood
added. Earlier, Mahmood
was the one who initiated a
letter demanding unfettered
democracy in Pakistan, sent to
US Secretary of State Antony
emphasises its commitment to
deepening partnerships in these
areas across the globe, evidenced
by the recent announcement
of a new Tech Envoy to the
Indo-Pacific.
“Strengthening the UK-India
relationship is a key pillar of
the UK’s long-term foreign
policy, as part of its enduring
engagement in the Indo-Pacific
set out in the Integrated Review
Refresh,” it said.
schools, ensuring the market relevance of training
as well as building the capacity of institutions to
provide technical and vocational education.
He further highlighted the government is
working towards integrating the skills qualifications
framework with the higher education qualification
framework, and also investing in developing shortterm
and long-term training programmes to provide
skilling, re-skilling and upskilling opportunities.
The minister stressed on learning best practices
from Singapore, and collaborating and customising
them to meet Indian needs.
An official said the ministers had fruitful
conversations on strengthening skill development
and vocational training linkages through all
mechanisms for creating a seamless architecture
for skilling and lifelong learning.
Blinken in May with signatures
from 69 lawmakers. He now plans
to send another letter to Blinken,
signed by prominent US senators,
according to Dawn.
Mahmood has also launched a
campaign to draw attention to
Friday, 26 May, 2023
Indian Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh, who was on a
three-day visit to Nigeria this
week, met Bangladesh’s Local
Government, Rural Development
and Cooperative Minister Md
Tazul Islam in Abuja.
The two held discussions on
several issues and expressed the
commitment of their respective
governments towards further
expanding and strengthening
bilateral ties. The meeting was
a testament of the goodwill
between India and Bangladesh,
an official statement read.
Following the meeting, Singh
tweeted, “Wonderful interaction
with the Minister for Local
Government, Rural Development
and Cooperative of Bangladesh,
Mr Md Tazul Islam in Abuja.”
During his trip, Singh also
attended the swearing-in
ceremony of President-elect of
Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In
addition to senior officials of
the defence ministry, Singh’s
delegation to Nigeria included
top executives of Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
and Goa Shipyard Limited
(GSL), according to an official
statement.
Indian naval ship INS Delhi
arrived at Port Klang in
Malaysia this week for three
days as part of the Indian Navy’s
Eastern Fleet deployment to
ASEAN countries. INS Delhi made
the port call from May 29 to May
31. The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is a
political and economic union of
10 Southeast Asian nations. The
visit of the Indian Naval vessel
will see personnel from both
navies engaging in professional
and social interactions.
“Indigenously designed &
built #INSDelhi, arrived at Port
Klang, #Malaysia. The port
call from 29-31 May 23 is
part of #IndianNavy’s Eastern
Fleet deployment to #ASEAN
countries. #BridgesofFriendship,”
the official handle of the Indian
Navy wrote on Twitter.
“The visit will see personnel
from both navies engaging in
professional & social interactions
consolidating the strong bonds
of friendship between #India and
#Malaysia,” the tweet added.
INS Delhi is India’s first
the ‘mysterious disappearance’
of journalist Imran Riaz Khan
and the arrest and solitary
confinement of Khadija Shah.
This week, the chairperson of
the Pakistan caucus in Congress,
Sheila Jackson Lee also joined the
lawmakers in expressing concern
at reported human rights abuses
in Pakistan.
“As the founder and chair of
the ... Congressional Pakistan
caucus, I am extremely concerned
about these reports, particularly
about the moves directed at the
former Pakistani prime minister,”
she said. Atif Khan, a PTI leader
from Texas, told Dawn his party
plans to gather 5,000 to 10,000
people in Washington next
month to “show our support to
Read online www.iwk.co.nz
These executives met with
military and government
personnel from Nigeria in order to
determine what needs they had
that Indian defence businesses
could meet. To improve
cooperation, B2B meetings
were organised with Nigerian
businesses.
Besides high-level political
representation from countries
across Africa, India was among
the select non-African nations
that were represented at the
‘swearing-in ceremony’ at the
ministerial level, reflecting the
high priority and strength of
India’s bilateral relations with
Nigeria, the defence ministry said
in a statement.
indigenously-built guided missile
destroyer. The ship is equipped
with various weapons and
sensors and can carry multi-role
helicopters. Meanwhile, on May
28, Indian Navy’s P-8I aircraft
from INS Hansa undertook
a maiden landing at Bahrain
International Airport to participate
in Operation Compass Rose.
“P-8I aircraft from #INSHansa
undertook a maiden landing at
Bahrain International Airport to
participate in Operation Compass
Rose, as part of Combined
Maritime Force (CMF), followed by
interaction with representatives
of participating countries,” the
official Twitter account of the
Western Naval Command of
Indian Navy tweeted. “Cdr Amit
Mohapatra, Commanding Officer,
P-8I Squadron called on HE
Piyush Srivastava, Ambassador
of India the Kingdom of Bahrain.
He also met VAdm Brad Cooper,
Commander CMF, for discussions
on joint operations in the areas
of interest,” the Western Naval
Command added.
Pakistani-American community plans meeting of US lawmakers to highlight political chaos
This image shared by the PTI on May 22 shows protesters gathered at Lafayette Square in
front of White House in Washington. (Twitter)
Rajnath meets Bangladesh minister,
discusses strengthening bilateral ties
INS Delhi makes port call in Malaysia
democracy in Pakistan”. Leaders
of the Pakistani community,
however, point out that as the
community grows its roots
in the US, it has increased its
participation in American politics
as well, reported Dawn.
“These people are here to
stay. Now, they will have a say in
every major issue,” said another
scholar, Arif Jamal, adding, “The
Pakistani government will have to
learn to deal with them.”
The arrest of Imran Khan
on May 9, 2023, resulted in
mayhem across Pakistan, as
army installations were attacked
by PTI supporters resulting in
political chaos and subsequent
crackdown by Pakistani army on
Imran Khan’s party.