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Vol 2, Issue 5 April 16-30, 2022
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Australia and India sign agreement to double bilateral trade in 5 years We know what we are doing Jaishankar in US - Page 5
India’s HC visits Gold Coast - Page 8
Indian woman-led tech start-up secures $200 mn - Page 15
Courtesy: NewsX New Delhi, April 03: Australia and India on April 2 signed an Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) that is likely to almost double bilateral trade between the two countries in the next five years bringing the value of the trade up from the current $27 billion to $45-50 billion. The Australia-India ECTA was signed in a virtual ceremony by Australian minister for trade, tourism and investment Dan Tehan and Indian Commerce and industry minister PiyushGoyal, in the presence of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Indian counterpart Prime Minister NarendraModi. It is being said that the agreement is likely to be implemented in another
four months. Highlighting the opportunities offered by ECTA, Morrison said the agreement would create enormous trade diversification avenues for Australian producers and service providers in India, which would be at nearly $14.8 billion each year. Australia, on the other hand, will provide duty-free access to 96.4% of Indian exports, which by value comes to 98% of tariff lines. Some of the key Indian sectors to benefit include textile, leather, jewellery and sports goods from the day this agreement is implemented. India expects that one million jobs will be created in the country in the next five years due to this agreement taking effect.
Continued on page 4
2+2 leaders discuss cooperation in areas of defence, geography
A timely agreement in a volatile global environment
IMF to downgrade forecast for over 140 economies
New Delhi, April 03: While the trade deal with Australia is certainly going to benefit India, there are pragmatic reasons in Australia and India expediting the deal. From Australia’s perspective increasing strategic and economic tensions with China, and declaration of election in May have necessitated that Australia give approval to a free trade agreement with India that had been on the cards for quite some time. Relations between Australia and China deteriorated sharply a year ago after Australia favoured a call for a global probe into China’s dealing of its initial Covid-19 outbreak. Since then those tensions began to brew and culminated into Chinese sanctions on Australian goods. That has ranged from levying tariffs to imposing other bans and restrictions impacting Australian goods, including barley, wine, beef, cotton and coal. Moreover Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also said recently that Australia is “not immune” from the economic fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine, which he and many experts feel, will be “profound” in the longer run. The real cause for concern is “global oil prices have traded over $130, the highest since 2008. And this reflects expectations of supply interruptions for many months to come,” he said. Even so, Australia is likely to witness limited direct impact because its “merchandise trade with Russia and Ukraine is 0.2% of our total two-way
Washington, April 15 (IANS) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief said the organisation will revise down its global growth forecast amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the impact of which will contribute to downgrades for 143 economies this year. "To put it simply: we are facing a crisis on top of a crisis," IMF Managing Director KristalinaGeorgieva said on Thursday in a curtain raiser speech ahead of the 2022 spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank scheduled next week. "In the past seven weeks, the world has experienced a second major crisis -- a war on top of a pandemic. This risks eroding much of the progress we have made over the past two years, climbing back from Covid," Georgieva added. In an update to its World Economic Outlook report released in January, the IMF already cut 2022 global growth forecast by 0.5 percentage point to 4.4 per cent amid Omicron surge, as economies grapple with supply disruptions, higher inflation, record debt and persistent uncertainty, Xinhua news agency reported. "Since then, the outlook has deteriorated substantially," largely because of the war and its repercussions," she said. She warned that emerging and developing economies face the added risk of economies.
trade with the rest of the world,” Morrison had said. However, according to the Prime Minister commodity price rises will be affected, and petrol prices in Australia have already shown an upward trend like they have elsewhere. “These are just the first order impacts of Russia’s actions. The longer term geostrategic and economic implications, though, are much more profound,” Morrison said. The Prime Minister said the trade deal would “open one of the biggest economic doors there is to open in the world today” and that India and Australia had a “like-minded partnership” on security and humanitarian issues in the Indo-Pacific regions.
Indian, Aussie navies to conduct ops to enhance interoperability
Virochana the wronged asura - Page 22
Nothing greater than magic of shared experience - Page 23
Almonds in a tastier way - Page 26
Politicians leverage my popularity Mahesh Babu - Page 28
New York, April 12 (IANS):The diplomatic and defence leaders of India and the US have discussed expanding their cooperation into new defence areas like space and cyberspace to enable their militaries to jointly meet the challenges of this century, according to a readout of their 2+2 meeting that stressed "common strategic interests". External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin "committed to deepening cooperation in new defence domains, such as space and cyberspace, as the US and Indian militaries jointly meet the challenges of this century", the readout issued by the Pentagon after Monday's meeting said. "They also agreed to launch an inaugural Defence Artificial Intelligence
Dialogue, while expanding joint cyber training and exercises," said the readout that was heavy on defence and strategic cooperation. Extending multi-national cooperation beyond the Indo-Pacific to Europe was also on the table. They "discussed ways to coordinate more closely with like-minded nations -- including Australia, Japan, and European partners -- to ensure that our shared principles of the rule of law, freedom of the seas, and respect for the territorial integrity of sovereign states prevail today and far into the future", the readout said. "Today's 2+2 Ministerial reaffirmed that the United States and India will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, rooted in common democratic values, as two pillars of a free and open Indo-Pacific", it added. "In support of India's leading role as a net security provider, the leaders Continued on page 4
New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) The Indian and Australian navies carried out maritime operations, information exchange, and training together from April 11 to April 13 to enhance collaboration and interoperability. A meeting in this regard was co-chaired by Royal Australian Navy's Deputy Chief Rear Admiral Christopher Smith, and Indian Navy's Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence, Rear Admiral J. Singh. Commodore Stewart Dunne, Hydrographer to Australian government, also attended the meeting. The event witnessed active participation from both navies. "Both sides also acknowledged the growing cooperation between the two navies amid the emerging challenges on the maritime front, and agreed to enhance collaboration and interoperability towards ensuring maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region," said the Indian Navy in a statement. On Tuesday, a P8I Maritime Patrol
and Reconnaissance Aircraft of the Indian Navy went to Darwin in Australia to undertake an operational turnaround at Darwin. During its stay, the team from the Indian Navy's maritime patrol squadron, Albatross, is scheduled to engage with its counterparts from the 92 Wing of the Royal Australian Air Force. P8 aircraft from both the countries would be conducting coordinated operations in Anti-Submarine Warfare and surface surveillance to enhance maritime domain awareness. The P8 aircraft, with their demonstrated long reach, have operated jointly during Malabar and AUSINDEX series of exercises, and have a common understanding of operating procedures and information sharing. Both India and Australia share strategic interests, promoting a free and open Indo- Pacific and rules based order in the region.
US joins 90-odd nation coalition to protect 30% earth New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) At the Our Ocean Conference in Palau, the US officially announced to join the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, a group of more than 90 countries, encouraging the adoption of the global goal to protect and conserve at least 30 per cent of the planet -- land and sea -- by 2030, commonly referred to as “30x30.” Scientists have issued repeated warnings that nature is in a state of crisis, threatened by habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change. The ongoing and rapid loss of natural areas across the world poses a grave threat to the health and security of all living things. However, overwhelming scientific evidence shows that conserving at least 30 per cent of the global land and ocean can not only help curb biodiversity loss and prevent extinctions but also store carbon, help prevent future pandemics, and bolster economic growth. The announcement from US Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Monica Medina was made on Thursday that the US will join the HAC. The US is considered a “megadiverse” country with the second largest territorial waters and the fourth largest landmass in the world. The Biden administration has already pledged to conserve 30 per cent of the US land and sea; it is now pushing for the goal.
Re-plan your travels - Page 21
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