409 results found
Blurred definitions and unilateral declarations on Beijing’s part have left Nepal struggling to define the BRI.
Although PM Dahal signed several agreements with China during his recent visit, critics at home are dismayed that Nepal is not gaining anything concre
The Maldives became the second country in South Asia, after Pakistan, to enter into a free trade agreement with China. The Yameen government pushed the FTA through the nation's Parliament, the Majlis, stealthily, with the opposition not attending the parliamentary session.
IF-CAP can be a key financing vehicle that boosts ADB’s ability to financially support Asia’s developing economies in addressing the climate chall
Pyongyang’s recent live-fire drills could set in motion a series of events with far-reaching consequences for regional stability, diplomacy, and the
Both Kathmandu and New Delhi will need to leverage their political will and expand cooperation to ensure that both countries reap benefits from closer
A crisis of trust between developed and developing nations is poisoning the international climate regime. Taking responsibility on both sides is the f
Against the backdrop of increasing Chinese territorial assertiveness, the logic of geopolitics dictates that both India and the U.S. have vital interests in strengthening defense cooperation. In June, US and India signed a 10-year defence framework agreement.
The Stand-By Agreement from the IMF staves off the possibility of Pakistan defaulting on its debt, but only temporarily, not indefinitely.
India is wise to emphasise the costs to Islamabad of its obstructionism. Pakistan cannot hold the future of South Asia hostage to its India paranoia.
China, Japan and South Korea have a long way to go in their trilateral free trade agreement. The road to an agreement is going to be long and complex. However, how this trilateral venture is going to be viewed by the US is to be watched with care and interest.
In the years since Paris, the world has changed — Prime Minister Modi has seized on the momentum.
The timing of the recent India-Pakistan agreement can’t be a coincidence, and the Modi government needs to watch its back.
Experts at the event opined that it is a win-win situation for India and Bangladesh to have a functional river, rail and road network.
The significance of the agreement brought out between rival Afghan presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, should not be overlooked. It has ensured that Afghanistan's democratic transition does not come to a premature halt. A timely resolution of the immediate predicaments could guarantee that it remains a durable one.
India is driving a transition to e-mobility in a bid to meet its commitments to the Paris climate agreement. Meeting the e-mobility targets will have multiple benefits, including cleaner air, improved health, and a reduced oil import bill. India’s cities will play a key role in achieving the e-mobility transition through planning and the implementation of local policies, but they must first overcome certain challenges. Assistance from the centr
One of the foremost questions around Trump's victory has been in relation to the future of the Iran nuclear deal, one that the President-elect has cri
The recent visit by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has opened new opportunities to further consolidate India-Sri Lanka ties
When more than a third of the world's population does not live to see 40 on average, it is clear that securing the right to life for these people should be the only priority of global developmental processes. Can there ever be any shared values, if there is no agreement on the fundamental right to life?
Conflicts between central banks and governments are embedded in the evolving discourse of every democracy. The recent discord between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is neither the first nor likely to be the last. Institutionally, once a disagreement between the RBI and the MoF crosses the Rubicon, the government has the power to overrule the central bank’s decisions. Moreover, such a structure is not restricte
PM Modi's decision not to join RCEP is an admission that even the prospect of joining a massive regional trade agreement isn't incentive enough for New Delhi to launch deep economic reforms.
The signing of the framework agreement on free trade area was not anticipated during the event, which later appeared as a new revelation in the wake o
Attempts are being made by Nepal and India to revive the relationship through new avenues of cooperation with a focus on digital connectivity
There are growing calls amongst a section of political and industry leaders for a “great reset” of capitalism.
The effect of the 15th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the expiry of several provisions of its WTO Accession Protocol was the object of heated debate between major trading partners in 2016. Yet the question of China’s graduation to the market-economy status, and its implications on the anti-dumping investigations in the importing countries, remains. This paper explores the divergent legal interpretat
Traditional development financing is proving insufficient to address overlapping global challenges, such as climate change and fragile contexts. This brief explores new thinking in development finance through two examples. The first is Islamic climate finance, which constitutes less than 2 percent of global Islamic finance. The brief identifies policy priorities and proposes dedicated Islamic climate-finance windows (e.g., in the Green Climate Fu
Since August 2021 when the US withdrew from Afghanistan, ceasefire violations at the India-Pakistan Line of Control (LoC) and killings of minorities in J&K have been reported. Indeed, the fall of Kabul to the Taliban has bolstered the anti-India establishment and the terrorist groups in Pakistan—putting the February 2021 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan under stress. India's conventional military response of the type of the 'S
United States and India must ensure their current trade and tariff issues do not lead to serious strategic disagreement. The two cannot afford to miss the emerging geopolitical realities driven by China’s growing power.
The revoking of the Budhi Gandaki agreement also heralds a shift in Nepal’s bilateral relations with China.
Powerful private interests will collude with the most powerful state to safeguard their mutual energy interest or the private sector may actually end up suggesting and implementing a joint framework agreement.
India’s border dispute with China, which goes back to the 1950s, primarily owes to the absence of an internationally accepted boundary between them, and of an agreement on where runs the Line of Actual Control. The border, as a result, is patrolled and managed by the military forces of both sides. After initial efforts to resolve the dispute failed, the two sides signed a set of agreements aimed at stabilising the LAC and normalising their rela
Though belatedly, Norway, which brokered a Ceasefire Agreement between Colombo and LTTE in 2002, clarified that it never supported the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam contrary to popular belief. Majority of Sri Lankans, including President Rajapaksa, accused Norway of being pro-LTTE.
Terrorists stormed the American University of Afghanistan on August 24 killing 16 people and injuring more than 50.
More than two years after the Government of Sri Lanka and the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) reached an agreement on a ceasefire in their military and para-military operations against each other, with Norway playing the role of a facilitator, and embarked on a process of negotiations in order to find a political solution to the demands of the LTTE for an independent
Sri Lanka¿s worsening security situation under an undeclared war is most likely to persist. Both the LTTE and President Rajpakshe¿s government are violating the four-year-old ceasefire agreement, which, in fact, seldom was honoured seriously, but neither of them is in a position to formally break it and declare an open, all-out war. Both of them are under intense international pressure to desist from doing so.
Suga’s foreign policy, thus far, has followed the core tenets of the Abe doctrine.
For both India and South Korea, cooperation in the civilian nuclear sphere is a subject of great importance. Both countries had signed an agreement in 2011 and since then, South Korea has been keen to sell its nuclear reactors to India but without success. Now, Seoul's interest has become stronger as it is competing with Japan.
Your reflection published by Observer Research Foundation brings a complex view between food security, climate change, sustainable agriculture and land use. Is there awareness of this inseparable relationship?
While sustainable development and green growth are replacing conventional notions of economic growth and development, conventional finance is being re
The current set of agreements between India and the US on emerging technologies implies that technology will now be at the core of their ties
The African countries are set to launch the African Continental Free Trade Area or AfCFTA, the biggest free trade agreement in the world since the World Trade Organization was created in the 1990s. When implemented, the AfCFTA is projected to increase intra-African trade by 52.3 percent by 2022, from 2010 levels. In turn, higher trade levels can facilitate economic growth, transform domestic economies, and help the countries achieve the Sustainab
By overcoming the multiple challenges posed against the MCC, the Nepalese government was finally able to ratify the long-delayed agreement.
The responses to the pandemic suggest a greater scope of regional cooperation among the countries in the Bay of Bengal region.
If carbon emissions from research activities are excused, some inconvenient issues may arise
