Preamble
1.1 On October 6th, 2015, the Ministers in charge of health affairs in China, and African countries, in the presence of representatives from African Union, World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank, Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, met in Cape Town, South Africa, on the occasion of the 2nd Ministerial Forum of China-Africa Health Development.
1.2 Both Sides reviewed, with satisfaction, the current status of China-Africa health cooperation. They reiterated their commitment to continue to view China-Africa health cooperation from a strategic and long-term perspective.
1.3 In order to implement the outcomes of this Forum and chart the future course of China-Africa cooperation Read More
Moscow: India today asked BRICS partners to invest in its flagship programmes like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’, asserting that the government has laid down a clear roadmap for lowering corporate taxes which has created immense opportunities for foreign investors.
While addressing a meet of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Ministers of Industries, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also made a strong pitch for removal of structural impediments for increasing trade engagement amongst members of the group.
“We have laid down a clear roadmap for lowering corporate taxes. There is also a renewed thrust on public investment in infrastructure. All these create immense opportunities for companies from Read More
Forecasting that India will clock the highest growth rate of 7-7.5% among G20 economies in 2015 and 2016, Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday said the country is less exposed to external shocks, and the positive rating outlook reflects resilient growth and reforms momentum.
“India is less exposed to global risks because of its more resilient economic growth and the impact of positive policy reforms momentum,” the rating agency said. Emerging market sovereigns have diverging shock-absorption capabilities to withstand the risks that will continue to impact global credit quality in 2015-16, says Moody’s in a report published on Thursday.
The report focuses on five Baa-rated sovereigns—Turkey, Brazil, South Africa, India and Indonesia. Read More
Namibian High Commissioner to New Delhi Pius Dunaiski said over the weekend that he wants India to assist the African country in building up a strong defence system. The seasoned diplomat told the media that he recently discussed various issues, including peace keeping and an efficient anti-terrorism arrangement, with the Indian officials ahead of the crucial summit.
Dunaiski stressed that he requested India to train the Namibian Army, Air Force and Navy officers on advanced techniques and facilities used by the defence forces of other countries. Acknowledging India’s important role in establishing the Namibian Air Force, he said that Windhoek not only bought the first helicopters from India, but also Read More
Angus Deaton, the economist who won a Nobel Prize this week, has spent much of his career trying to measure poverty and progress in India and China.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said its decision to award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2015 to Angus Deaton was owing to “his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare”.
In a special message for India, Deaton has said India’s welfare “experiments are technical solutions to political problems, that really ought to be decided by democratic discussion; that experiments are often done on the poor and not by the poor is hardly an encouraging sign.”
Beijing is open to maritime accidental encounter and search and rescue drills in the South China Sea with members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) next year, China’s defense minister said in a meet with ASEAN defense chiefs.
“Forces from outside the region are using the Internet, social media and other means to carry out incitements against countries in this region, threatening social stability,” Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan said.
Chang added that China is willing to work with ASEAN to boost military cooperation and jointly maintain regional peace and stability.
Chang’s comments, made at an informal meeting in Beijing, were carried by the Defence Ministry’s official microblog.
Earlier last year, ASEAN Read More
The European Union has offered Turkey a possible three billion euros ($3.41bn) in aid and the prospect of easier travel visas and “re-energised” talks on joining the bloc in return for its help stemming the flow of refugees to Europe.
EU leaders at a summit in Brussels said early on Friday that they agreed on an “action plan” with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to cooperate on improving the lives of two million Syrian refugees in Turkey and encouraging them to stay put.
They also agreed to coordinate border controls to slow the influx of refugees crossing Turkey from Asia.
Already hosting more than two million Syrians, Turkey has become a launching point Read More
Despite International Criminal Court (ICC) declaring Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, one of the invitees at the high-profile India-Africa Summit, a “war criminal” and having issued two warrants, India will go ahead and host him during the upcoming event from October 26 here as it is under no obligation to arrest him.
Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC for alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur conflict and against whom two arrest warrants were issued in 2009 and 2010, is among the 54 heads of state in Africa invited for the third India-Africa Summit (IAFS). Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Read More
Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has announced that the Bank would nearly triple its annual climate financing to reach $5 billion annually by 2020.
AfDB’s climate spending would increase to 40 per cent of its total new investments by the targeted date.
“Climate change is both an urgent threat and a unique opportunity,” Dr Adesina said in the Climate Finance Ministerial Meeting co-hosted by Peru and France in Lima as part of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) annual conference.
AfDB, established in 1964 and headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, is owned by the 54 African countries and 26 non-African countries, aimed to spur Read More
A host of the world’s top development banks announced substantial increases in financing for developing countries to reduce climate-warming emissions and adapt to the consequences of climate change, as top finance and development officials met from 9-11 October in Lima, Peru.
The World Bank Group has pledged to boost its climate finance offering from 21 percent up to 28 percent by 2020, with the support of its 188 member countries. This translates into a projected increase of funding from US$10.3 billion in 2020 to US$16 billion, according to the Bank’s press release.
The Bank also promised to continue current levels of leveraging co-financing for climate projects with governments and the Read More