(Current Affairs) India and The World | December: 2016

SAARC summit in Pakistan postponed after withdrawal from various countries (Free Available)
India would stresson trying to operationalise the Green Climate Fund (Free Available)
India gets support of its old ally Russia (Free Available)
Sri Lanka joined the demand for regional organisation to counter cross-border terrorism (Free Available)
India is Russia’s especially privileged strategic partner says Russian President (Only for Online Coaching Members)
Maldives quits the commonwealth (Only for Online Coaching Members)
UN General Assembly appointed Antonio Guterres as Secretary General (Only for Online Coaching Members)
India likely to ink a deal on the S-400 Triumf long range air defence system (Only for Online Coaching Members)

SAARC summit in Pakistan postponed after withdrawal from various countries

Blaming India for derailing the SAARC Summit, Pakistan announced that the summit in Islamabad will now be held on an alternative date, even as Sri Lanka joined others in opposing the summit under the “prevailing environment”.
Nepal subsequently issued an official statement seeking an indefinite postponement of the summit.
Sri Lanka joined India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh in demanding the summit should not be held.
Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding, “Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in a decisive manner”.
Addressing the media in Delhi, Afghan envoy Shaida M. Abdali demanded that SAARC should focus on counter-terror initiatives. Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted, ‘We note Pakistan’s decision 2 postpone SAARC Summit.

India would stresson trying to operationalise the Green Climate Fund

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Kozhikode on September 25 that India would ratify the Paris climate deal.
The ratification document will be submitted at the offices of the UN Secretary-General by Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, or his representative, said Environment Ministry officials.
It is still unclear what led India to alter its position dramatically from mere weeks ago.
At the G20 summit in China last month, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya said India “wasn’t ready” in terms of the domestic actions required to ratify, or at least commit to ratify, the Paris deal within 2016.
After India’s bid to enter the NSG was rebuffed by China in Seoul in June, the External Affairs Ministry said, “An early positive decision by the NSG would have allowed us to move forward on the Paris agreement.”
Mr. Dave said that at the climate talks in Morocco in November, India would stress most on trying to operationalise the $100 billion corpus — called the Green Climate Fund — committed by developed countries.
Fund will aid policy, projects and technology transfer as a buffer against the impact of climate change. Only a fraction of it has been pledged so far.The funds will help nations work on fulfilling their Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions (INDC) which aim to reduce carbon emissions through a host of solutions.
Mr. Dave said that India has already completed 12 per cent of all pre-2020 Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC), or the road map by which it will make good on its commitments to reduce carbon emissions.
As part of its INDC plans, India had promised to bring down its emissions intensity, or emissions per unit of the GDP, by at least 33 per cent by the year 2030 as compared to 2005 levels.

India gets support of its old ally Russia

Days after it asked Islamabad to take “effective” steps to stop the activities of terrorist groups on its territory, Russia “welcomed” the surgical strike by India, saying every country had a right to defend itself.
Russia’s Ambassador to New Delhi Alexander M. Kadakin said his country had always been with India in fighting cross-border terrorism.
“Greatest human rights violations take place when terrorists attack military installations and attack peaceful civilians in India. We welcome the surgical strike. Every country has right to defend itself,” the Russian Govt.said.
He assured India that it did not need to worry about the Russia-Pakistan joint military exercise, saying it did not take place in the “Pakistan-occupied Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir”.
Last week, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said Russia stood for a “decisive struggle” against terrorism in all its manifestations.

Sri Lanka joined the demand for regional organisation to counter cross-border terrorism

Pushing for revising the agenda of SAARC, Sri Lanka on Wednesday joined the growing demand that the regional organisation counter cross-border terrorism.
After a meeting with PM Modi, visiting Srilanka’s PM cited Sri Lanka’s experience with war and terrorism, and warned that SAARC would become irrelevant without addressing terrorism.
“Cross-border terrorism might worsen if SAARC is thrown away,” he said and added that three countries out of the eight-member regional grouping was afflicted by security problems. He, however cautioned against war.
Sri Lanka was the fifth country to issue a statement against holding the 19th SAARC summit in Islamabad in November.
He said Sri Lanka’s decision against attending the summit was decided through a process of democratic consultations, and highlighted that Sri Lanka was discussing “several options” in shaping the South Asian regional order.
India’s preparation to deal with the emerging challenges figured in Mr. Wickeremesinghe’s meeting with Mr. Modi and both sides discussed bilateral issues such as India’s aid and technical support to Sri Lanka.
He said that in the midst of the “crucial phase” in South Asia, his country would continue with the peace-building process that started following the end of the war against the Tamil Eelam fighters.
Mr. Wickremesinghe’s demand on SAARC with a counter-terror focus follows India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan citing “cross-border terrorism”, “imposed war” and “interference” from Pakistan.