Happy with progress in bilateral initiatives: S Jaishankar to Singapore Deputy PM
Jaishankar is on a three-day visit to Singapore and China.
'Good to catch-up with' Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Jaishankar said in a social media post, and added that he was 'glad to note the steady progress in various bilateral initiatives'.
The external affairs minister also said that he looked forward to the 3rd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR).
Earlier in the day, Jaishankar met his counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan and said, 'Singapore is at the heart of our Act East Policy. Always insightful to exchange views there.' Posting about the meeting on X, Balakrishnan said, 'As the world inexorably transitions into multipolarity, India will play an increasingly important role as one of these major poles of opportunity.' He also said he looked forward to seeing Jaishanakar in New Delhi for the 3rd ISMR.
The inaugural meeting of the ISMR took place in New Delhi in September 2022 while the second round of ISMR was held in Singapore in August last year.
Jaishankar also met Chairman-designate of Temasek Holdings Teo Chee Hean, during which they discussed the investment opportunities in India.
Following his Singapore visit, Jaishankar will travel to China to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin.
It would be Jaishankar's first visit to China after the ties between the two countries came under severe strain following the 2020 military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
20 minutes ago
- Time of India
Mutual recognition pacts between India, UK may be ready in 36 months
New Delhi: India and the UK have agreed to negotiate mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) to facilitate the movement of professionals such as nurses, accountants and architects to Britain, an official told ET. This is crucial as in certain professional services, recognition of qualifications is an essential requirement. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category healthcare Digital Marketing MBA Others Data Science Leadership Technology MCA CXO PGDM Design Thinking Project Management Data Analytics others Management Operations Management Public Policy Finance Product Management Cybersecurity Healthcare Degree Data Science Artificial Intelligence Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months IIM Lucknow CERT-IIML Healthcare Management India Starts on undefined Get Details "It has been agreed that both countries will engage in mutual recognition of qualifications because in certain professional services, recognition of qualifications is an essential requirement like nurses, architects, accountants and dentists. Within a period of 36 months, we will try to enter into MRAs with the UK," said the official. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo MRAs in professional services confer recognition of certain licensing or qualification requirements obtained in the jurisdiction of other countries. In the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Britain has also provided an assured mobility regime for various categories of Indian professionals. Business visitors across all sectors will be allowed entry for up to 90 days within any six months. Intra-corporate transferees including partners and dependents can stay for up to three years. Graduate trainees have also been accommodated under this category. Live Events Investors will be permitted a stay of one year. Contractual service suppliers from 33 sub-sectors, including IT, ITeS, finance, business services, hospitality and transport, can operate in the UK for 12 months within 24 months. Independent professionals from 16 sub-sectors, such as IT, business consulting, telecom and finance, can also access the UK market under similar terms. At present, about 60,000 Indian intra-corporate transferees are working in the UK in the IT sector. "For that, the UK has committed that they will provide a visa for three years not only for workers but also for their partners and dependents... Most important is that the UK has also agreed that no numerical restrictions will be imposed on workers," the official added. The UK has agreed not to impose numerical quotas or Economic Needs Test requirements for these categories. On the other hand, India has given market access in professional, financial (like insurance), environmental and other services to the UK. "The UK has expertise in these services and it will lead to investments also in India... India has ensured that its policy space in sensitive sectors is preserved," the official added. India has a trade surplus of around $6.6 billion with the UK. Officials said India has not made any commitments to the UK on easing cap on British banks opening more branches.
Time of India
22 minutes ago
- Time of India
World has too much steel, but no one wants to stop making it
At Tata Steel 's plant in IJmuiden on the outskirts of Amsterdam, cauldrons of lavalike molten steel are poured into long, thin trays that harden into identical 40-by-4-foot slabs of steel. The end products, though, are strictly haute couture. Every item is made to order: battery casings that do not leak, crumple-zone car parts that absorb the force of a crash, cans that safely preserve food for years. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category MCA Public Policy Data Science Operations Management MBA Degree Data Analytics Leadership PGDM Cybersecurity healthcare Management Others others Digital Marketing Technology Design Thinking Artificial Intelligence CXO Project Management Data Science Healthcare Product Management Finance Skills you'll gain: Programming Proficiency Data Handling & Analysis Cybersecurity Awareness & Skills Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Duration: 24 Months Vellore Institute of Technology VIT Master of Computer Applications Starts on Aug 14, 2024 Get Details Very few companies in the world can produce this kind of advanced high-grade steel. Even so, Tata is being hit by the same forces that are pummelling every steelmaker: Manufacturers are producing more steel than the world can possibly use. Excess steel production is estimated to reach 721 million tons by 2027, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. One answer would be to simply make less steel. The problem is that no country wants to be the one to stop producing a material that is considered essential to its economic and national security. Live Events Steelmaking has always held an outsize position as a symbol of economic power and prestige. It constitutes the fabric of modern life, used not only for buildings, roads, cars, refrigerators, electronics, forks and screws but also for weaponry, tanks and fighter jets. Over the past decade, a flood of cheap steel from China has transformed the global market. The country's mammoth collection of mills-built in part with government support and often lacking the environmental controls mandated in Europe-make more steel, as well as aluminium, than the rest of the world combined. As China's economy has slowed, more of these metals have been exported at cutthroat prices. The result is sinking prices, shrinking profits and unemployed workers. Measured by the kilogram, steel costs less than bottled water. Smaller revenues also mean less money to invest in new low-carbon technologies, which are essential to meeting the European Union's climate goals, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned in May. The European Union imposes trade penalties intended to stop China from dumping its cheap steel on its markets. But Chinese steel keeps coming, prompting countries that were not traditionally steel exporters, like South Korea and Japan, to join the hunt for buyers elsewhere. And now, aside from high energy and labour costs, aging technology and fierce competition from China, European steelmakers must also contend with punishing American tariffs. President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on nearly all steel and aluminium imports last month. Britain is in a better position than most. Trump exempted British steel from the additional 25% tariff on steel and aluminium and has agreed to remove the remaining 25% tariff in the future. Still, Britain's aging plants are having trouble surviving. This spring, the government took over the British Steel complex in Scunthorpe, an industrial town in northern England. Last year, the government also helped bail out Tata Steel, which runs a large mill at Port Talbot in Wales, with a 500 million pound grant to transition to a greener electric arc furnace that melts recycled steel. In the Netherlands, Tata Steel 's plant in IJmuiden is in better shape. The site, which is the size of 1,100 soccer fields and sits next to a public beach, is one of the country's largest industrial employers. The plant is the second largest in Europe. At the moment, steel made with green hydrogen in electric arc furnaces and other greener production methods spew far less emissions but cost 30% to 60% more than conventional production, according to various estimates. And then there are the tariffs. Tata said in a statement that 12% of its sales were "US related" and that it passed on most of the 25% tariff that went into effect in March to its American customers, which include Ford Motor, Chrysler, Caterpillar and Duracell. But, the company added, it worries that with 50% tariffs "our steel may become too expensive." Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
Experts flag UK-India FTA over patent terms, access to drugs
Mumbai: Experts in intellectual property law and civil society groups in India have raised concerns that provisions in the UK-India Free Trade Agreement , Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), may dilute compulsory licensing norms and jeopardise future access to affordable lifesaving medicines. As part of the Indian Patent Act, the country has the rights to invoke compulsory license for any lifesaving medicines or vaccines and call upon domestic generic players to supply it during a national emergency in the public interest. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category others Digital Marketing Data Science Project Management Others CXO Healthcare Operations Management healthcare PGDM MCA Artificial Intelligence Degree Product Management Finance Data Analytics Leadership Cybersecurity Public Policy Data Science Management Technology Design Thinking MBA Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT - ISB Cybersecurity for Leaders Program India Starts on undefined Get Details KM Gopakumar, co-convenor of Working Group on Access to Medicines and Treatment, said the deal amounts to giving a backdoor entry to TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) plus provisions and goes beyond the minimum standards set by the World Trade Organization, which India has so far resisted in multilateral trade forums. The group said the UK-India FTA provisions on patents tilt the balance in favour of the patent owner and undermines access to medicines. The UK-India FTA says, "The parties recognise the preferable and optimal route to promote and ensure access to medicines is through voluntary mechanisms, such as voluntary licensing , which may include technology transfer on mutually agreed terms." Biswajit Dhar, retired professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, noted that India was moving away from its sovereign rights by placing emphasis on voluntary license (VLs). "It will kill the essence of the compulsory licensing mechanism and even within the legal framework, India has issued only one CL to Natco Pharma (for Bayer's kidney cancer drug sorafenib)," he noted. He said VLs come with restrictions of pricing that are determined by the innovator Big Pharma companies. "Often voluntary license contains onerous conditions on the licensee and fails to bring sharp price reduction compared to the compulsory licenses," Dhar added. Gopakumar said that India places a higher threshold for examination and grant of patents, but if the FTA deal is any indication, it may result in "functional harmonization" and lead to dilution in the grant of patent. However, a few other patent experts told ET that the FTA seeks to keep a balance between India's current IP regime with public health and the UK's preference of protecting various IP rights. The FTA seeks to create a Working Group on IPR. On patents, India's important safeguards such as Section 3(d) (which blocks evergreening of patents) of the Indian Patent Act, and oppositions have not been disregarded and it should help in India's status as the world's generic drug manufacturer and protect access to medicines for domestic patients.
