India and China agree to restore flights and trade flow after minsiter Wang's visit
The border talks covered issues related to pulling back troops both countries have amassed on their border and delimitation of borders and boundary affairs. There was no major breakthrough on those issues, but Beijing said both countries agreed to meet again in China in 2026.
However, the two countries have agreed to resume direct flights – without setting up an exact date at the moment – and boost trade and investment, along with smooth facilitation of visas. Direct flights have been suspended since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
At the meeting of the Special Representatives between visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, the two sides agreed to create an expert group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs to explore 'early harvest in boundary delimitation', and to set up another working group under the WMCC to 'advance effective border management' and maintain peace and tranquillity.
The statement was issued after minister Wang's two-day visit to New Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, posted on X about making steady progress after meeting Wang: 'Glad to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other's interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit. Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity.'
Glad to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other's interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO… pic.twitter.com/FyQI6GqYKC
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 19, 2025
Modi's scheduled visit to China at the end of August to take part in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be his first to the country in more than seven years.
A readout from the Chinese foreign ministry said Wang told Doval that 'the stable and healthy development of China-India relations is in the fundamental interests of the two countries' people.
The two sides should enhance mutual trust through dialogues and expand cooperation'.
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Zawya
4 hours ago
- Zawya
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC - Masdar assigned 'AA-' issuer credit rating; Outlook stable
Rating Action Overview We expect that Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy group Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC - Masdar (Masdar), primarily owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, will benefit from very strong levels of financial support from the government, both extraordinary and ongoing, on the back of the group's strategic mandate as the key vehicle for the country to achieve its ambitious clean energy transition targets by 2050. Masdar's operating and growth model is unique and is symbiotic in many ways with the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This supports our view of Masdar's credit rating being very close to, although not aligned with, the rating on Abu Dhabi, and the ratings on both entities are likely to evolve in tandem in the future. Masdar benefits from an established global market position in the clean energy development business, a diversified capacity base, and an ambitious growth strategy sponsored by the government. We also recognize that the company's strong investment appetite creates inherent execution risk in business expansion and its financial leverage is very high. We therefore assigned our 'AA-' long-term issuer credit rating on Masdar. The outlook is stable, reflecting the outlook on our sovereign rating on Abu Dhabi. Rating Action Rationale We think that Masdar has an extremely high likelihood of receiving timely and sufficient financial support from the government of Abu Dhabi. The group has the very important role of leading the emirate's renewable goals, and it benefits from having integral ties with the state government. This results in six notches of uplift from Masdar's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) of 'bbb-', leading to an 'AA-' long-term issuer credit rating. Masdar retains priority on the mandate for renewable energy for Abu Dhabi, being a key vehicle for the United Arab Emirate (UAE) in achieving its goals of tripling renewable energy by 2030. The UAE government has pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2050 and plans to invest heavily in alternative energy sources that are both renewable and clean (see "Abu Dhabi," May 26, 2025). Masdar also plays a key role as a vehicle for strengthening ties with partner countries through the development of non-utility scale special projects. There is ample evidence and a solid track record of state support to accompany Masdar's growth. The group has thus far received over UAE dirham (AED) 20 billion in equity support from the government to finance its acquisitions on growing platforms. We think that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is willing and able to provide extraordinary financial support should Masdar experience financial stress, particularly because Masdar's reputation globally is closely linked to that of its ultimate owner. Chart 1 Over AED20 billion in equity support to finance acquisitions on growing platforms Acquisitions help enhance portfolio quality and provide diversification benefits Masdar's strategy of acting as a platform investor and aggregator has significantly expanded its scale and diversity. From 2021 to March 2025, Masdar's gross capacity (considering operational, under construction, and committed projects) increased to 33 gigawatt (GW) from 15 GW. This trajectory was backed by a dual business model that combines greenfield development with strategic acquisitions--each supported by appropriate funding sources. The company has a portfolio of geographically diverse assets in strategic locations across the globe and exposed to well-proven renewable technologies, notably utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind capacity, which together account for more than 80% of Masdar's generation base. Different from its rated peers, Masdar does not carry operations in-house, but rather adopts an investor approach, outsourcing operating and construction risk to third-party contractors. Masdar's competitive advantages stem from both: Hard factors: A large, low risk asset base of its cash flow generation with 97% of revenues being generated through take-or-pay contracts with a weighted average remaining contract life of about 16 years; and Soft factors like government backing and a clear strategic mandate Although Masdar's investment appetite is aggressive, the regular equity injections from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to finance brownfield acquisitions support the sustainability of the growth strategy and underpin Masdar's sound access to capital markets and good relationships with banks. As of March 2025, Masdar has an identified advanced pipeline of 25 GW, and a long way to reach its target of over 100 GW by 2030. In addition, 15 GW out of its contracted pipeline is under development. Therefore, we cannot rule out some execution risks and high capital expenditure (capex) in its path toward its 2030 target. That said, we think that the government will step in to support Masdar because its activities have strong strategical and reputational significance for the emirate. The continuous support and the privileged access to low-cost financial resources thanks to its government links are a major differentiating factor when assessing the group's financial solidity and capacity to sustain high leverage. Despite Masdar's heightened leverage, the company--which is a pioneer in green bond financing in the UAE--managed to raise about AED10 billion so far in 2025, with a low coupon rate of about 5%. Masdar's strong diversification, government-backed growth model, and hands-off approach to distressed assets all support the deconsolidated financial analysis approach. Unlike many of its peers, Masdar's business model ensures that its financial risk profile is not tied to individual projects or their associated debt. The company's expansion is driven by government capital injections and strategic acquisitions, rather than asset monetization, further limiting its reliance on project-level cash flows. In our assessment of Masdar, we deconsolidate all nonrecourse asset-level debt and cash flows and included the dividend distributions from these projects to calculate its financial metrics. The deconsolidation is not merely because of the nonrecourse nature of the assets, but because we believe Masdar's approach to individual projects in the context of its large portfolio, in terms of business strategy, governance and influence, allows us to do so. We estimate Masdar's leverage (i.e., mostly corporate debt at the parent level) will remain high over the next two years. Masdar's deconsolidated debt-to-EBITDA is likely to increase to 5.0x-6.0x over 2025 and 2026, from 1.8x in 2024, before falling to 2024 levels as all the development activity Masdar has undertaken over the past year--particularly through the acquisitions of growth platforms--become operational and begin generating cash. Masdar's growth mandate is implemented through its disciplined and consistent acquisition strategy and framework which helps provide visibility around the evolution of cash flows. We acknowledge that, within the development cycle, Masdar's leverage ratio would also by cyclical. However, we view the company's track record of disciplined framework when it comes to its financial policy as positive. We would expect Masdar to hold majority ownership and control of its projects to maximize dividend payouts, while ensuring the deconsolidated EBITDA cash interest coverage is close to 2.0x. We would also expect the company to continue with its funding approach whereby greenfield developments are financed with nonrecourse debt at the project level with Masdar's equity being funded via green bonds at the parent level, whereas brownfield acquisitions would remain financed primarily via equity-like shareholder contributions. Equally critical for us is the expectation that Masdar would not support any distressed projects, as has been the case in the past Outlook The stable outlook on Masdar mirrors that on the sovereign rating on the Abu Dhabi (AA/Stable/A-1+), given our view that the company has an extremely high likelihood of receiving timely and sufficient financial support from the Emirate, its ultimate owner. The outlook also reflects our expectation that Masdar will continue to enjoy good funding access as a key government-related entity (GRE) in Abu Dhabi and that the emirate will support Masdar with regular equity injections for brownfield projects to reach the 100 GW target. We also expect that Masdar will maintain stable cash flows and efficient operations at the project-level, which will also support the company's leverage and growth spending over the next 12-24 months. Downside scenario We may lower the rating on Masdar in the next 12-24 months if: We lower the sovereign rating on Abu Dhabi to 'AA-'; We think that government support for the company has weakened. This could happen if Masdar becomes less strategic and integrated with the government. A shortfall or delay in supporting strategic acquisitions, or liquidity pressure on Masdar may also signal weakening of support; or At the current level of government support, the SACP on Masdar weakens by two notches to 'bb'. We think that there is substantial headroom for the 'bbb-' SACP on Masdar, considering the operating model. A downward revision of the SACP would likely be driven by a fundamental departure from existing financial policy, more than point in time credit metrics, which could be inherently volatile. Still, we could lower our assessment of Masdar's SACP by one notch if: The company fails to maintain EBITDA cash interest coverage in line with financial policy, due to an inability to upstream dividends from projects as expected; or The company revises its financial policy and approach to its balance sheet management, by undertaking aggressive recourse debt-funded spending, either to fund acquisitions at corporate level or to support distressed greenfield developments projects. Upside scenario We could upgrade the company if we raise the rating on Abu Dhabi to 'AA+', all else remaining equal. We are unlikely to raise our assessment of Masdar's SACP over the next 12-24 months, as we do not expect the company would be able to meaningfully reduce its leverage, given the company's capital spending plans over the coming years. Company Description Masdar is a registered public joint stock company headquartered in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The principal activities of Masdar are to invest or acquire participations in entities in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon reduction, carbon capture and storage, and other forms of sustainability-related technologies and provision of services for reducing carbon emissions. Since its establishment in 2007, Masdar has developed and partnered in projects in over 25 countries globally. Its gross installed capacity as of March 2025 stands close to 17.5 GW, with a mix of solar PV and wind, with a mandate to increase its renewable energy portfolio capacity to 100 GW by 2030. The company is majority-owned (approximately 96% indirectly) by the government of Abu Dhabi, through shareholdings by Abu Dhabi's leading state-owned entities: Mubadala Investment Company, Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. Our Base-Case Scenario Assumptions Distributions from invested projects of AED2.0 billion-AED2.5 billion in 2025 and 2026, increasing to more than AED3 billion in 2027 following the completion of major constructions. We do not consolidate nonrecourse project-level debt, and our adjusted EBITDA includes our forecast cash distributions, proportionate to the equity ownership of the assets. Our EBITDA also includes annual development, prefinancing, and general and administrative corporate costs. Masdar-level capex of $20 million-$50 million over the forecast period. This excludes the development capex funded by nonrecourse financing. Committed equity contributions from sponsors in 2025 to support capital spending requirements. The company not making distributions to its shareholder but making minority ownership distributions. Approximately $1.5 billion in amortizing operating project-level debt in the forecast period. We note that the debt is in proportion with consolidated projects equity ownership. Key metrics Liquidity We assess Masdar's liquidity as adequate, because we expect the company's ratio of liquidity sources to uses to be about 1.6x over the 12 months ending March 31, 2026. Given Masdar's status as a GRE, it has strong banking relationships and satisfactory standing in credit markets onshore and offshore, which is supported by its low coupon rate. Masdar also has a degree of flexibility to lower capex and acquisition spending, if needed. Principal liquidity sources AED2,800 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents for the next 12 months; and Cash funds from operations of about AED1,000 million for the next 12 months. Principal liquidity uses No debt maturities for the next 12 months; Expected capex of AED10,000 million for the next 12 months (operating and mergers and acquisitions); and No expected dividend payments of AED944 million for the next 12 months Covenants The group's nonrecourse project financing indebtedness typically contains covenants, including debt-service coverage ratio covenants, which can restrict distributions to Masdar unless the terms are met. We acknowledge that in 2023 and 2024, the solar PV projects under construction in Uzbekistan experienced technical breaches with no financial impact for Masdar. Environmental, Social, And Governance Environmental factors are a positive consideration in our credit analysis of Masdar. The company specializes within the renewables sector, promoting clean energy solutions and abates 14 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Masdar aims to spearhead the UAE's net zero by 2050 target and actively engages in exploring innovative technologies and partnerships that advance sustainability. Masdar's commitment to sustainability and innovation is evidenced through its involvement in the exploration of hydrogen production since 2008. Socially, Masdar remains cognizant of its responsibilities and engages local communities through education initiatives and job creation. Governance-wise, environmental, social, and governance activities are spearheaded at the board level through its Sustainability, Strategy and Investment Committee ensuring the company remains on track to develop a global clean energy portfolio with gross capacity of 100 GW by 2030. 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Zawya
4 hours ago
- Zawya
Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) Signs Amended Memorandum of Understanding with Japan's Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) to Deepen Strategic Cooperation
The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) ( a Shariah-based multilateral insurer and member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, is pleased to announce the signing of an amended Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), Japan's official Export Credit Agency. The signing ceremony was held in Tokyo on August 18, 2025, during a bilateral meeting between Dr. Khalid Khalafalla, Chief Executive Officer of ICIEC, and Mr. Atsuo Kuroda, Chairman and CEO of NEXI. The amended MoU aims to broaden the scope of cooperation between ICIEC and NEXI, with a particular focus on innovative financing mechanisms such as blended finance. The agreement also seeks to enhance coordination in project development and risk mitigation, leveraging ICIEC's deep regional expertise and mandate to support investment flows into member countries. The partnership between ICIEC and NEXI was first formalized in 2019 during TICAD 7, where both parties recognized the urgent need for infrastructure development across the African continent and the potential for Japanese companies to play a catalytic role in that effort. Since then, the collaboration has evolved through several key initiatives, including the establishment of a reinsurance framework, the launch of a dedicated Japan Desk within ICIEC to facilitate engagement with Japanese enterprises, and joint support for strategic projects such as the Gas Power Plant Construction Project in Turkmenistan. This renewed MoU coincides with the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Yokohama and reflects the shared commitment of both institutions to advancing sustainable development and investment in Africa and other ICIEC member countries. Commenting on the occasion, Dr. Khalid Khalafalla, CEO of ICIEC, stated: ' This renewed MoU with NEXI marks a significant milestone in our enduring partnership. By expanding our collaborative framework, we are better positioned to support transformative projects in our 50 Member Countries. We look forward to working closely with NEXI to mobilize financing, de-risk infrastructure initiatives, and foster inclusive growth across our member states '. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). Contact: Email: ICIEC-Communication@ About The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC): As a member of the 'AAA' rated Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), ICIEC commenced operations in 1994 to strengthen economic relations between OIC Member States and promote intra-OIC trade and investments by providing risk mitigation tools and financial solutions. The Corporation is the only Islamic multilateral insurer in the world. It has led from the front to deliver a comprehensive suite of solutions to companies and parties in its 50 Member States. ICIEC, for the 17 th consecutive year, maintained an "Aa3" insurance financial strength credit rating from Moody's, ranking the Corporation among the top of the Credit and Political Risk Insurance (CPRI) industry. Additionally, S&P has reaffirmed ICIEC's 'AA-' long-term Issuer Credit and Financial Strength Rating for the second year with a stable outlook. ICIEC's resilience is underpinned by its sound underwriting, global reinsurance network, and strong risk management policies. Cumulatively, ICIEC has insured more than USD 121 billion in trade and investment. ICIEC activities are directed to several sectors—energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, healthcare, and agriculture. For more information, Visit
Zawya
4 hours ago
- Zawya
South African Government Sets Record straight on Farm Crime
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) committed to updating its initial statement on the 2024 US Human Rights Report, specifically its commentary on the safety situation in South Africa's rural and farming communities. The South African Government wishes to set the record straight on this matter and to clarify what we believe is an inaccurate and distorted account of the facts. Our nation's foreign policy is guided by a commitment to a rules-based international system based on international law and a respect for human rights, as enshrined in our Constitution. It is within this framework that we address all forms of crime, which remain a significant challenge for all of our citizens, regardless of race or location. The suggestion that these crimes represent a concerted practice of racially motivated attacks, as insinuated by the US report, is not borne out by the facts. The South African Police Service's official statistics on rural safety for the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 Financial Year (1 January 2025 to 31 March 2025) demonstrate this reality. A total of 6 murder cases were reported in farming communities. A breakdown of the victims reveals that these crimes are not targeted against a single racial group: 3 victims were employees 1 victim was a farm dweller 2 victims were farmers. These figures underscore that violent crime in rural areas affects everyone who lives and works on farms and related rural areas. While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community. The government continues to implement a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to rural safety. Our National Rural Safety Strategy is a priority and is implemented in police station areas that serve rural and farming communities. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2024/2025, a total of 893 out of 900 identified rural police stations (99%) had fully implemented the strategy. This initiative focuses on enhancing police capacity and fostering community involvement with key stakeholders, including: Traditional leaders Commercial farmers associations including the African Farmers Association of South Africa and the National African Farmers' Union, Agri-SA and its provincial structures and the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAUSA) Labour unions like the Food and Allied Workers Union and organisations advocating for the rights of farm workers Interest groups like AfriForum, South African Agricultural Research Institute and Stop Attacks and Farm Murders. Furthermore, we are actively strengthening public-private partnerships through initiatives like the Eyes and Ears (E2) program, coordinated with Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA). This initiative leverages the private security industry's technological and logistical capabilities to enhance the situational awareness of the South African Police Service and improve our response to rural crime. South Africa remains committed to a transparent and collaborative approach to addressing crime. We stand ready to engage with any nation on matters of mutual interest through established diplomatic channels, and we will continue to provide accurate, data-driven information to counter any misrepresentations of our domestic situation. There is a focus on the safety and security of all South Africans. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
