The Gist of Press Information Bureau (PIB): February 2014

The Gist of Press Information Bureau: February 2014

India and Vietnam Sign Treaty on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners (Free Available)
India Declared Free From Bird Flu (Only For The Subscribed Members)
Sitanshu Kar from Sevmash Shipyard in Russia with inputs from Captain PV Satish in New Delhi (Only For The Subscribed Members)

INDIA AND VIETNAM SIGN TREATY ON TRANSFER OF SENTENCED PRISONERS

The Union Home Minister Shri Sushil kumar Shinde and Minister of Public Security of Vietnam Mr. Tran Dai Quang signed here today a treaty on transfer of sentenced prisoners. The Treaty will help the Indian prisoners imprisoned in Vietnamor viceversa to be near their families for serving remaining part of their sentence. This would facilitate the process of their social rehabilitation.

The Government of India has so far signed such Agreements with the Governments of U.K., Mauritius, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Bangladesh, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sri Lanka, UAE, Maldives, Thailand, Turkey, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel and Russia. Negotiations have also been concluded with the Government of Canada, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Spain. These treaties have helped in repatriation of 43 Indian prisoners from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and UK. Similarly 7 prisoners of UK and France where repatriated to their respective countries.

The Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention ofCrime and the TreatmentofOffenders adopted the Model Agreement on the Transfer of Foreign Prisoners in 1985 and since then many countries have arrived at bilateral and multilateral treaties. The Repatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003 was enacted for achieving the above purpose. For achieving the objectives of the Act, a treaty is required to be signed with countries having mutual interest on this matter.

In addition to the above, the two Ministers also heldbilateral talks onsecuritymatters, issues of training, capacity building, cyber security, cyber crime, trans-national crime, terrorism and disaster management. They reiterated the resolve of both the countriesofworking together ondifferent issues ofmutual interest.

India and Japan have decided to further strengthen their cooperationin themaritime sector as a partof the overall robust bilateral relations. The two countries agreed to enhance their interaction through the existing forums and through port-toport exchanges.

These issues came up for adiscussionbetween the UnionMinister of Shipping ShriG.K. Vasan,who is on an official visit to Japan and his Japanese counterpart Shri Akihiro Ohta, Minister of land, Industries and Transport&Tourism, Government of Japan.

Shri Vasan explained the developments that were taking place in India in the Ports sector and assured Shri Ohta that concerns regarding infrastructure and connectivity of ports are being addressed expeditiously. In particular, he said that the ports in Ennore and Chennai are catering to the Japanese car exporters like Toyota and Nissan who have so far exported about 42000 and 300000 cars respectively from these ports.

During the talks, Shri Vasan thanked the Japanese government for its support to various Indian Ports and infrastructure projects through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He also mentioned the possibility of JICA assistance to VOC Port at Thoothukudi for the upcoming Outer Harbour Project.

Japanese Minister Shri Ohta, while acknowledging the existing cordial relationship between India and Japan, assured that Japan will carry forward the momentum. He also thanked Shri Vasan for his efforts in this direction and expressed Japan’s interest in shipbuilding and recycling industries in India.

Shri Vasan later visited the Yokohama port where he was received by Shri Nobuya Suzuki, DeputyMayor of Yokohama city and ShriMasaharu Ikegami, theViceDirector General of theMinistry of Land, Industries and Transport & Tourism, (MLIT) Government of Japan.