POLITICAL ISSUES

ISRAEL

India Delays Missile Deal With Israel, Demands New Tests

New Delhi, 9 December 2018

India-Israel deal for sale aUS$500 million of Rafael's Spike missiles has hit another obstacle, as India has demanded new tests for the homing missiles in the summer of 2019. The tests would focus on the missile's infrared systems.Source:Ha’aretz

SAUDI ARABIA

India, Saudi Arabia Sign Bilateral Annual Haj Agreement For 2019

New Delhi, Thursday, 13  December 2018

India and Saudi Arabia signed the 2019 Bilateral Annual Haj Agreement on 13 December in the presence Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Saudi Arabia's Haj and Umrah Minister Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten. During the event Naqvi said the Saudi government has always played an active role in ensuring the safety and comfort of Indian Haj pilgrims and that has strengthened bilateral relations. Source:NDTV

ECONOMICISSUES

IRAN

India signed a pact with Iran to pay crude bill in rupee

New Delhi, Thursday, 6 December 2019

Reuters reported that India would import crude oil from Iran using a rupee-based payment mechanism. It was reported that 50% of those payments would be used for exporting items to Tehran and the UCO Bank (India) is expected to announce the payment mechanism in few days. According to report, shipping companies from Russia and China were pitching to facilitate India-Iran trade. Source:Livemint

QATAR

India-Qatar Trade Surges

New Delhi,Friday, 21 December 2018

In the post-embargo period, a noticeable surge in exports has been registered between India and Qatar and according to officials, 17-buyers from Qatar are visiting India next month to take a look on products at the Indusfood, organized by Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) jointly with Ministry of Commerce and Industry.Source:Financial Express

TURKEY

Turkish business body opens office in India

Istanbul, Monday,3 December 2018

Turkey’s Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) have opened a new office in India.According to said İbrahim Uyar, the head of MUSIAD the office would focus on strengthening the ties between Turkey and India. He noted that there was an imbalance in the trade ties in economic cooperation between the two countries.“It is very important to balance the gap. The biggest aim of MÜSİAD India office will be to reduce this imbalance,” he said.Source: Hurriyet Daily News

UAE

India, UAE sign currency swap deal to boost trade ties

Abu Dhabi, Tuesday, 4 December 2018

India and the UAE signed currency swap agreement to boost trade and investment ties between the two countries.The development came during the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Abu Dhabi to take part in the ministerial meeting of the 12th session of the UAE-India Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) and held exhaustive discussions with Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation.Source:Gulf News

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

IRAQ

Air India plans flight services to Iraq's Najaf from Lucknow 
Mumbai, Saturday, 8 December 2018

Air India is looking to kick starts a flight service to Najaf (Iraq) from Lucknow via New Delhi, early next year. The airline is discussing modalities of the proposed flight. Source:Economic Times

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy