INDIA AND GERMANY

Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh visited Germany from 10 April 2013 to 12 April 2013 for participating in second round of Inter Governmental Consultations with Germany. He was accompanied by delegation including Ministers and senior officials.

During his visit, certain documents were signed. These documents are as follows:

Joint Declaration of Intent regarding promotion of German as a foreign language in India

• The Joint Declaration of Intent regarding promotion of German as a foreign language in India was signed between M. Mangapati Pallam Raju, Minister for Human Resource Development from India and Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State in the German Foreign Office.

• Under the Joint Declaration, India would cooperate in introducing B.Ed programmes for German language.

• Also scholarships would be awarded for Masters degree programs and for short stays in Germany with the goal of improving mutual trust and intercultural relations.

Intergovernmental MoU between India & Germany on Cooperation in the field of Higher Education

• This MoU was signed between M. Mangapati Pallam Raju, Minister for Human Resource Development from India and Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister of Education and Research from Germany.

• This MoU intends to facilitate people-to-people exchanges. This includes students, academics, and project collaborators.

Joint Declaration of Intent on Indo-German cooperation in the area of Civil Security Research

• This Joint Declaration was signed between Minister for Science & Technology, Jaipal Reddy from India and Federal Minister of Education and Research, Johanna Wanka from Germany.

• The Indo-German research cooperation in this new area intends to fund 5 pilot projects in 2013 with the identified priorities being natural disaster management, biological risk situations, urban security, protection & rescue of people and social aspects of civil security research.

Joint Declaration for the bilateral “Kooperations Program” of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and the National Seeds Association of India and the German Association of Plant Breeders

This was signed between Ambassador of India and Gerd Muller, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Germany.

This joint declaration aims at strengthening cooperation in:

• plant variety protection

• conservation of plant genetic resources

• cooperation between Indian and German agricultural research institutions and seed companies

Joint Declaration of Intent on the Establishment of an Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure for Cooperation in Standardisation, Conformity Assessment and Product Safety

• This was signed between Foreign Secretary of India and Anne Ruth Herkes, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology of Germany.

• This aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in standardization, conformity assessment and product safety through advancing bilateral economic and technical cooperation, intensifying dialogue and promoting coordinated activities in international organizations.

• It also provides for establishing and Indo-German Working Group Quality Infrastructure.

Joint Declaration of Intent on Indo-German Development Cooperation regarding the Establishment of Green Energy Corridors

• This was signed between Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, India and Gudrun Kopp, Parliamentary State Secretary, Germany.

• This joint declaration aims at fostering increased use of renewable energy in India through technical and fanatical cooperation by way of integrating additional renewable energy generation capacity with the national grid.

• The Technical cooperation would be implemented through the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and KfW intends to provide concessional loans of up to Euro one billion over the next six years.

List of documents signed on the sidelines of 2nd round of India-Germany Intergovernmental Consultations

• MoU between Solar Energy Centre and Fraunhofer Institute for cooperation and exchanges in various areas including solar photovoltaic; solar thermals systems; hydrogen and fuel cells.

• Programme of Cooperation between Dept. of Biotechnology of India and Helmholtz Association in the area of development of future natural drugs.

• Supplementary MoU on Research Framework of the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT, Madras under the National Climate Action Plan.

• MoU between Deutsche Bahn and Indian Railways for cooperation in the field of freight, passenger operations, infrastructure building and management; development of modern competitive railway organization.

• MoU between DB Systel and Centre for Railway Information Systems for cooperation in the field of information systems related to railways.

• MOU between Hof University of Applied Sciences & Integrated Association of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises of India (SPV formed by Faridabad Small Industries Association) to develop specialized vocational training course.

• MOU between Manipal University, Manipal, India & Bavarian Universities Consortium represented by Hof University of Applied Sciences of Germany to establish the Indo-Bavarian Integrated Bachelors and Masters Programme in August 2013.

• MoU between Infosys Ltd and Bertelsmann Stiftung to support Vocational Education and Training in India.

• MOU between PSG Institute of Advanced Studies & Professional Training Centres of the Bavarian Employers Association (BFZ).

• Contract agreement between Cairn India and TUV Rheinland to set up a state-of-the-art vocational education training facility in Rajasthan.

INDIA AND BANGLADESH

National Thermal Power Corporation of India and Power Development Bangladesh signed three agreements on 20 April 2013 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The agreements were a part of setting up of the biggest ever joint venture project of 1320 Megawatt Coal based power plant. This project is to be developed at an expense of 1.6 billion US dollars.

The pacts three pacts inked for the 1320MW coal-based Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BIFPCL) include:

• Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)

• Implementation Agreement (IA)

• Supplementary Joint Venture Agreement (SJVA)

P. Umashankar, Union Power Secretary of India led the Indian delegation at the signing ceremony of the mega project. The MoU for India’s cooperation in Power Sector were identified as exchange of power, grid connectivity, energy efficiency and electricity generation with Bangladesh, during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in January 2011. In January 2013, NTPC and Bangladesh’s Power Development Board (PDB) signed a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with equal equity participation (50:50) for development of power projects in Bangladesh. This project is proposed to be developed over an area of 1834 acres of land near Mongla Seaport in Rampal Upazila. It is the largest ever foreign investment in the power Sector in Bangladesh as well as the first power plant that is being developed by NTPC outside India. The power plant will be developed with a super critical technology. As per the environmentalists, the joint-power project will be disastrous to the environment and vegetation of the Sunderbans – the world’s largest mangrove forest. The country has also seen many projects for the cancellation of the project by the Government.

India and Bangladesh discussed for a Joint Collaboration on Mega-Film on Liberation War Manish Tewari, Minister of Information and Broadcasting of India on 11 April 2013 met Hasanul Haq Inu, Bangladesh Minister for Information & Broadcasting and discussed on different issues including issues related to Information and Broadcasting sector of the two countries. Both the countries agreed on the issue of exploring setting up of a Joint Working Group in the Information and Broadcasting Sector.

Issues Discussed and Conclusions Reached

• Ministers from both the nations discussed upon joint collaboration for production of a mega film that depicts the War of Liberation. The two ministers agreed to work on finalization of a road map in context of the film proposal. The Bangladesh minister asked for the names of the soldiers, who laid down their lives during the war to recognize them.

• Ministers also agreed to explore the possibility of setting up of a Joint Working Group on the critical sectors of the Information and Broadcasting domain. The Working Group would provide a roadmap for future collaborations between the two countries.

• A formal request to downlink the TV channels of Bangladesh through the Private distribution network was made by the Bangladesh Information Minister.

• Agreement was reached between the two ministers to collaborate between the Prasar Bharti and Bangladesh State Television in view of the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the two entities in 2011. The MoU had focused on mutual cooperation in the broadcast of television programmes between the two broadcasters. It was also mentioned that both countries could consider exchange of programmes and also explore the possibility of executive TV co-production.

• Discussions on identifying the ways for strengthening collaboration as far as training and capacity building was concerned between institutions of mutual interests.

• Agreement on exchange of archival material between the two countries was reached between the two ministers, like major policy initiatives undertaken by the Government for exponential growth of the sector.

INDIA AND CHINA

The two-day India-China counter-terrorism dialogue ended on 12 April 2013 in Beijing China. The two nations discussed upon the ways to step up cooperation to counter terror in Afghanistan as a follow up plan after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2014.

Issues Discussed and Agreed

• The two sides exchanged views and opinions on regional and international counter terrorism situation and bilateral cooperation in the field

• Discussions were made on the fragile condition of Afghanistan and increased attacks from Taliban that would emerge after withdrawal of US forces from the country, they also discussed upon the initiatives planned to be taken by India, China and Russia to deal with the situation

India and China held their First Dialogue on Afghanistan in Beijing

India and China on 18 April 2013 held their first dialogue on Afghanistan in Beijing in a bid to evolve a joint strategy to deal with much feared possible return of Taliban and al-Qaeda after the departure of US troops in 2014. India and China agreed that Afghan issue concerns regional security and stability. China and India are two important countries in the region and consultations on Afghanistan help them to coordinate positions, deepen cooperation and contribute to early settlement of the issue. This is the first time that China held such a dialogue with India on Afghanistan, expanding consultations with its close ally Pakistan and Russia.

INDIA AND SINGAPORE

India and Singapore on 2 April 2013 signed an enhanced air services agreement to build on the existing 216 weekly flights and meet the growing demand for air connectivity between both the countries. It is evident that the demand for air services between both countries is growing continuously so the the bilateral air services agreement in this context is basically enhanced to include more capacity entitlements. It is also entitled as per the enhancement agreement that both countries would meet regularly to review air services matters. It is important here to note that Singapore is linked by air services to 12 Indian cities, having the most frequent flights to India out of Southeast Asia. The agreement was signed by Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and Singapore Transport Minister Liu Tuck Yew. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh was present in Singapore from 2 April 2013 to 4 April 2013. He had also discussed the importance of air connectivity in enhancing bilateral trade ties between India and Singapore, with S Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister, Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Trade & Industry and Home Affairs.

India and Singapore Signed Memorandum of Understanding on Air Services

India and Singapore on 2 April 2013 signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral air services arrangement during the visit of Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh to Singapore. It rationalizes the capacity entitlements of both countries in terms of seats per week in each direction with a route specific cap for Singapore on each route. The MoU also enhances, by 10%, the capacity entitlement with India now entitled to operate 29,400 weekly passenger seats from India to Singapore and the designated airlines of Singapore entitled to operate 28,700 weekly passenger seats from Singapore to India. No additional point of call has been given to Singapore. India also did not agree to the demand of Singapore for additional point of calls from Pune and Madurai. The common pool rights to the extent of 5160 seats earlier available to Singapore, which provided greater operational flexibility to Singapore carriers at major metro centres viz Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, have now been withdrawn. The designated airlines of Singapore can operate with any aircraft type except A-380. The delegation level talks were held between Prabhat Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Yap Ong Heng, Director-General, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. Both the sides have agreed to review and update the air services agreement and meet every two years to discuss various air services matters.

INDIA AND MAURITIUS

India and Mauritius on 12 April 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi on cooperation in the field of Election Management and Administration. The MoU was signed by Chief Election Commissioner of India, V.S. Sampath and the Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius, Mohammad Irfan Abdool Rahman.

Aims of MoU Signed

• Promotion of exchanges of knowledge and experience in electoral processes

• Exchange of information, materials, expertise and training of personnel

• Production and distribution of materials pertaining to electoral systems, voting technology, voters’ education as well as awareness and participation of women and minorities in electoral process

The MoU is a great landmark that will help in strengthening and deepening of the mutual collaboration between the Election Commission of India and Electoral Commissioner’s Office of Mauritius. Electoral Commissioner of Mauritius appreciated Indian Model Code of Conduct by Election Commission of India and acknowledged that Model Electoral Code of Mauritius drew inspirations with it. So far, Election Commission of India has successfully signed seventeen MoUs with Election Monitoring bodies of different nations across the world. Latest MoUs signed by ECI are with UNDP, Venezuela, Republic of Korea and Egypt.

INDIA AND FINLAND

A fourteen member Delegation from Finland led by Marja Rislakki, State Secretary Ministry of Employment & Economy of Finland met with an Indian delegation led by Lakshmi Panabaka, Minister of State, MoPNG Government of India on 15 April 2013. The delegation from both countries during their meet identified several ideas of collaboration in sustainable development between the two countries for mutual benefits in the Oil and Gas Sector.

Some of the basic Areas identified include

• Projects on Solar Energy applications for Oil & Gas Projects

• Projects on Solar Energy applications for Biofuels & Algae based biofuels research and water and waste water management

• Carbon capture & reformation

• Finland‘s Green Growth & Groove programme for suitable application to Indian Scenario and Academic Institutions/Universities for collaborative R&D projects in areas of low carbon growth technologies and sustainable development.

Following the conclusions reached after the meet of the delegations it’s likely that a Memorandum of Understanding can be taken up between the Governments of the two countries in the near future. The collaboration between the two MoPNG and Finland Government can be in the areas of sustainable development for mutual benefits in accordance to the agreement, respective laws and regulation of the two nations.

INDIA AND MONGOLIA

The 4th Meeting of the India-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation was held in New Delhi on 21 March 2013. It was jointly chaired by E. Ahamed, Minister of State for External Affairs of India, and Luvsannyam Gantumur, Minister for Education and Science of Mongolia.

The Joint Committee reviewed the entire range of issues in India-Mongolia relations. The Indian side conveyed that Indian companies were interested in playing a larger role in the Mongolian mineral processing and mining industry, and expressed the hope that a favourable environment for their operations could be created. The Indian side reiterated its support for Mongolia’s development processes and reaffirmed that it is modernizing the Rajiv Gandhi Polytechnic College of Production and Art in Ulaanbaatar. The Indian side is also considering setting up a milk processing plant in Mongolia. Implementation of the Line of Credit of US $20 million extended by India to Mongolia for setting up an India-Mongolia Joint Information Technology Education and Outsourcing Center in Ulaanbaatar was discussed. Discussions during the Joint Committee Meeting also focused on continuation of joint military exercises, the proposed visit of an Indian business delegation to Mongolia this summer, the possibility of launching air services between India and Mongolia and the establishment of an India-Mongolia Joint School. The 5th Meeting of the Joint Committee on Cooperation will be held in Mongolia in 2014.

INDIA AND TAJIKISTAN

The Vice-President of India, Hamid Ansari was on an official visit to Tajikistan from 14 April to 18 April 2013 and was accompanied by a high-level delegation that included Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries and four Members of Parliament. During this visit of the Vice-President, the two nations discussed on several issues and agreed on working together towards strengthening the ties between the two countries, like, human resource development, academic exchange and promote joint research and project work between both the Tajik Technical University and IIT, Delhi and more.

Some of the important issues on which discussions were made and agreed upon

• Regional Security Issues: Exchange of views on maintenance of regional peace and security by strengthening cooperation with each other. Discussions on strengthening Afghanistan’s capacity towards maintenance of peace and prosperity were also made. As well as cooperation on security issues as well as in countering cross-border terrorism were also discussed.

• Strengthen the Strategic Partnership: Leaders of both the nations agreed to focus on the welfare of the people of both the nations, with a common approach.

• Strategic Partnership in strengthening the relations in energy sector, health, IT, education as well as establishing the small and micro industries in the country Agreements Reached

• Increasing Trade: The leaders of both the nation identified the areas, in which trade can be further extended. They also identified the issue of fine-tuned connectivity between the two countries as the barrier.

• Trans-Afghan Corridor: Leader’s of both the countries agreed on opening the trans-Afghan corridor for to facilitate easy access of trade to and from the land-locked country. This proposed route will come via Afghanistan and Pakistan

• Agreement was also reached over strengthening relations in mining, information technology enabled services and medical sectors.

Hamid Ansari, is the first Vice-President of Indian Union to visit Tajikistan. Before this visit of Hamid Ansari to Tajikistan, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon visited India in 2012 and during the same visit the bilateral relationship between the two countries was elevated to the strategic partnership level.

INDIA AND MALTA

On 8 April 2013, India and Malta signed the new DTAA (The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement) at Valetta, Malta during the visit of Preneet Kaur, Minister of State for External Affairs of India. Once the DTAA enters into force, it will stimulate the flow of capital, technology and personnel between both the countries and will further strengthen the economic relationship. It also provides tax stability and reduces any obstacles in providing mutual cooperation between India and Malta.

DTAA and the Protocol between the Republic of India and Malta for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income is in force since 8th February, 1995. Both India and Malta have renegotiated the Agreement to bring in line with international standards, change in domestic laws and changed economic scenario.

INDIA AND AZERBAIJAN

Union Minister of Law & Justice of India, Ashwani Kumar and Minister of Justice of Republic of Azerbaijan, Fikrat Mammadov signed a Treaty on Legal and Judicial Cooperation in Civil and Commercial Matters on 4 April 2013. Apart from signing of the treaty, there were delegation-level discussions between India and Azerbaijan.

Major points of the Treaty on Legal and Judicial Cooperation in Civil and Commercial Matters

• The treaty between India and Azerbaijan in civil matters is a comprehensive agreement for reciprocal agreement with the foreign countries for different purposes such as service of summons, issuing Letters of Request, taking of evidence, execution of civil decrees as well as enforcement of arbitral awards.

• According to the provisions of the treaty, requests for legal assistance will be made through the Central Authorities of the Contracting Parties. The Central Authority of the Contracting Party in India is Ministry of Law and Justice, while the same in Azerbaijan is Ministry of Justice.

• The aim of the treaty is to provide benefit to the citizens of these two countries for seeking Legal Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters in their respective countries, irrespective of income, class or gender bias. The treaty will allow opening of new ventures of cooperation between India and Azerbaijan.

It is important to note that the treaties like this were also signed with other countries such as Mongolia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, France, U.A.E., Bahrain, Kuwait and Russia.

INDIA AND LANKA

The three-day visit of five-member FICCI-sponsored Indian Parliamentary delegation concluded on 12 April 2013. The delegation met a cross section of political opinion in a bid to understand the political situation in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, during its three day meet. The multi-party delegation spent two days in Jaffna, where they met opposition and ruling Party Tamil Leaders and members of Civil Society. They also met beneficiaries of Indian Housing Projects at two different sites as well as Fishnet Factory in Jaffna. The delegation identified the condition of Northern Sri Lanka four years after the Civil War ended. The delegation comprised of two BJP leaders namely Praksah Javadekar and Anurag Thakur and one leader from each Congress, Trinamool Congress and BSP namely Sandeep Dikshit, Saugata Roy and Dhananjay Singh respectively.

INDIA AND TANZANIA

Government of India and the Government of Tanzania signed a Letter of Intent(LoI) on 6 April 2013 at De res Salaam during the visit of Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma to the latter. The LoI aims to promote and expand bilateral relations between the two countries in the mineral sector with focus on strengthening supply chain for growth of the steel industry in both the countries. The LoI aims to encourage investment opportunities in India and Tanzania in the iron & steel related businesses, facilitates exchange of technical know-how in developing iron and steel production and other steel related raw materials, including pelletisation plants and other associated industries. LoI aims that both the Governments jointly work for developing the steel industry and exchange technically qualified manpower for sustainable growth of iron & steel industry. The LoI will not only strengthen relations between India and Tanzania. It will also give added thrust to the possibility of exploration and development of mineral assets in the country.

INDIA AND RUSSIA

The Union Government of India and Government of Russian Federation on 10 April 2013 at Moscow signed a Regulation defining the structure, functions and procedure of the Joint Commission. The regulation was established by an Agreement, which was signed on 21 December 2010 in New Delhi in the field of Emergency Management. The agreement was signed by Vladimir Puchkov, Minister of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters and Sushil kumar Shinde, the Union Minister of Home Affairs.

Importance of the Agreement Signed

• This will set an environment between the two countries to help each other at times of emergency in prevention and elimination of consequences

• It will strengthen the Indo-Russian co-operation as well as the bond of friendship between the two nations

The Agreement will enhance cooperation in the field of emergency management and contribute in ensuring the safety and well-being of the people of both countries at times of disasters. Both the countries will also exchange the technical and scientific information in areas of emergency management that is mutually beneficial for both sides.

Indo-Russian Commission is the body that will look forward for proper implementation of the agreement to catalyze the cooperation between the two nations. The joint-commission’s meets will be held alternatively in Indian and Russia.

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