INDIA AND SAUDI ARABIA

India and Saudi Arabia on 28 April 2013 decided to set up a joint working group to address the concerns of expatriate Indian workers in Saudi Arabia on the Nitaqat law. The India-Saudi Arabia Joint Working Group on Labour will discuss a Memorandum of Understanding on labour co-operation and other issues. The decisions were taken at a meeting of a high level Indian delegation led by the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi with the Saudi Labour Minister Adel Fakieh in Jeddah.

The first meeting of the group will be held in Riyadh on 1 May 2013. The Joint working group led by a Saudi Deputy Minister and India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia will discuss and evolve mechanism to address all immediate problems facing the NRI community including issues related to overstaying Indian workers. The process of recruitment of Indian workers would be made more transparent. Saudi Arabia is world’s top oil exporter. It has more than nine million expatriates. They provide important revenue for countries including India, Pakistan, Yemen and the Philippines.

What is Nitaqat Law

The Nitaqat law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. The new policy will result in to denial of job opportunities for many Indians working there. The Nitaqat aims to create more jobs for Saudi citizens. It was enacted following Arab Spring, which happened mainly because of huge unemployment in countries such as Yemen and Egypt.

INDIA AND SRI LANKA

As per the Indian envoy to Colombo Ashok K Kantha Indian companies have invested nearly 1 billion dollars in Sri Lanka since 2003. The figure is supposed to rise above 2 billion dollars in the next five years. It is important here to note that with investment inflows of 160 million Dollars in 2012, nearly 2 billion Dollars worth of FDI had been committed by Indian companies for the next five years or so.

Some Points to be Known

• In 2011-12, India’s imports from Sri Lanka went up by almost 45 per cent to cross 720 million dollars, making Sri Lanka the largest source of merchandise from the South Asian region for India.

• It was a big jump from the 45 million dollars imports in 2000-01, when Sri Lanka occupied 4th rank as an import source for India in the region.

• Sri Lanka’s exports to India had multiplied by over 16 times in this period, while India’s exports to Sri Lanka had gone up by less than 7 times.

Basically the FTA had brought significant benefits to both sides, but more to Sri Lanka. In Last few years a number of top Indian companies had displayed high interest in Sri Lanka, investing in the country across sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, services, and construction.

INDIA AND JAPAN

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma during his two day visit to Japan from 17 to 18 May 2013 sought more market access for Indian exporters in sectors like agriculture, marine and pharmaceutical products in Japan. During his visit to Japan, Anand Sharma expressed concern towards the mounting trade deficit, with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.

It is projected that the Japanese pharmaceutical market will touch 100 billion US dollar and in providing affordable healthcare, the Indian generics can play a key role in providing affordable healthcare. In 2012-13 trade deficit of India with Japan measured to 6 billion dollar. The two day visit is targeted towards a comprehensive review of the bilateral economic engagement with Japan. Anand Sharma apprised Shinzo Abe about the successful implementation of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project, which was conceptualized during his visit of to India in 2007. During his meet with the Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida expressed satisfaction on the healthy growth of trade after the signing of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries

INDO AND SWITZERLAND

A bilateral meeting between Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, India, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Minister of Health Switzerland, Alain Berset, was concluded on 20 May 2013 at Geneva. The meeting was held on the sidelines of World Health Assembly at Geneva. The aim of the meeting was to give further impetus to cooperation in the field of healthcare. In the past, various bilateral institutional arrangements between India and Switzerland have been signed and these include Indo-Swiss Joint Commission, Swiss- India Chamber of Commerce, Indo-Swiss Joint Committee on Science & technology and many more. In the meeting, it was decided that an MoU between the two countries will be inked soon for broadening the scope of bilateral ties. The major areas of cooperation of that MoU will be:

• Non-Communicable Diseases including controlling the associated risk factors of tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, unhealthy diet, etc.

• Communicable Diseases and Anti- Microbial resistance

• Universal Health Coverage

• Maternal & Child health

• Sexual & Reproductive Health

• Health & Medical Research

• Therapeutic Products

• Electronic Medical Records

• Glo bal Health Governance

In the meeting, it was exuded that Switzerland will extend full support to India on global platforms in order to carry forward the pursuits of providing high quality generic medicines at affordable prices.

INDIA AND IRAN

The 17th Session of the India-Iran Joint Commission was held in Tehran on 4 May 2013. The Session was co-chaired by Ali Akbar Salehi, Foreign Minister of Islamic Republic of Iran and by Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister of India. India and Iran discussed bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest. They discussed Indian participation in Chahbahar Port project which will provide connectivity with Afghanistan and will give an impetus to Afghanistan’s economic development. They also discussed the developing situation in Afghanistan and agreed to remain in regular contact.

The two sides also reiterated the importance of greater connectivity between Russia, Central and South Asia through the International North South Transport Corridor(INSTC). India and Iran reiterated importance of enhancing cooperation in expanding trade and banking relations. The two sides agreed to study the prospects of joint investment in both countries. The two sides, while noting their capabilities in the industrial sector, agreed to diversify their cooperation in this regard. On developments in Syria, the two nations strongly expressed deep concern on the continuing and unabated violence and called upon all sides in Syria to abjure violence and resolve all issues peacefully through discussions taking in to account the aspirations of people of Syria. In this regard, they supported the Geneva Communiqué which includes the 6-Point Plan of Kofi Annan and welcomed the efforts of Joint Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. Salman Khurshid also inaugurated the Indian Cultural Centre in Tehran on 3 May 2013. During the visit, India and Iran also signed the following Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs):

• MOU between Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Islamic Republic of Iran (ISIRI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

• MOU between the Foreign Service Institute, Ministry of External Affairs, Republic of India and School of International Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamic Republic of Iran.

• MOU between the Government of Republic of India and the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in the field of water resources management.

India and EU

The Chief negotiators met in New Delhi from 15 May to 17 May 2013 for 14th round of negotiation for India EU BTIA (Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement). All issues on the table were discussed. Negotiators felt that some positive movements have been accomplished though many critical issues are still needed to be discussed further. Negotiators reiterated their commitment for a balanced and ambitious agreement. Negotiators on both sides acknowledged that some positive movements were accomplished, however many critical issues still needed to be discussed further. The negotiations included trade in goods, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, investment, trade in services, intellectual property rights and geographical indications, competition policy, customs and trade facilitation, trade defence, government procurement, dispute settlement and sustainable development.