Relations With Nigeria

India, Nigeria agree to expedite initiatives in defence, trade, energy, consular matters

Key points:

1. The External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Tuesday (September 1, 2020) in a virtual meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama, held wide-ranging discussions on the entire gamut of India-Nigeria bilateral relations. 
2. During the 75 minutes interaction, the two Ministers recognized and acknowledged the excellent long-standing, multifaceted and strategic bilateral ties between the two counties, based on mutual friendship and cooperation. 
3. As per the Joint Communique, the discussions covered a wide spectrum of cooperation on political, economic and trade, defense and security, developmental assistance and cultural cooperation and both sides recalled their extensive cooperation in the field of defense training and capacity building. 

(Zee News, 2 September, 2020) News Link

Relations With Australia

Foreign and defence ministers of India, Australia, Indonesia to meet amid concerns over China

Key points:

1. India, Australia and Indonesia are set to hold two virtual meetings of their foreign and defence ministers to bolster regional cooperation and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, people familiar with developments said on Wednesday.
2. The meetings will be held against the backdrop of China’s increasingly aggressive actions across the region, ranging from the border standoff with India to territorial claims in the South China Sea backed by the concentration of military assets.
3. The meetings have been in the works for some time and the video conference of the foreign ministers – S Jaishankar, Marise Payne of Australia and Retno Marsudi of Indonesia – is expected later this month, and will be followed by the meeting of defence ministers, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

(HT, 2 September, 2020) News Link

• Japan, Australia and India to Launch Supply Chain Initiative

Key points:

1. The trade ministers of Japan, India and Australia agreed Tuesday to work toward achieving supply chain resilience in the Indo-Pacific region, following reports that the three nations are looking to work together to counter China’s dominance on trade.
2. The ministers instructed their officials to promptly hammer out details for an initiative to strengthen supply chains for launch later this year, according to a joint statement.

The three nations are seeking to build stronger supply chains to counter China’s dominance as trade and geopolitical tensions escalate across the region, Bloomberg reported in August, citing people in Tokyo and New Delhi with knowledge of the matter.
( Bloomberg , 2 September, 2020) News Link

Relations With USA

Nikki Haley Calls India America’s ‘real Friend’, Hails Trump For Indo-Pacific Strategy

Key points:

1. Top Republican leader Nikki Haley said that India and the United States are natural allies because both countries are democratic and value life and human rights. Speaking at the third India-US Leadership Summit organised virtually by the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF), Haley said that America has started to know who are its “real friends”.
2. The former ambassador to the UN said that it is the time for Indians to be proud and talk about their successes and accomplishments. She added that Americans are not threatened by Indians and realise that Indians make the US better. Talking about the Indo-Pacific strategy, Haley said that Trump administration acknowledging India as natural allies was a “real game-changer”.

(Republic World, 2 September, 2020) News Link

• Amid LAC row, US calls on china to stop ‘bullying neighbours’

Key points:

1. The United States on Wednesday slammed China for engaging in a “clear and intensifying pattern of bullying its neighbors” amid renewed Chinese incursions into India, while demanding that Beijing also enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
2. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo signaled a toughening of the Trump administration’s stand on China’s growing depredations vis-a-vis India on two occasions even as Washington and Beijing instituted new measures to curtail activity of each others diplomats and officials and the U.S expanded the scope of its concerns to the Tibet issue.

(TOI, 2 September, 2020) News Link