At G-20, Biden announces ambitious corridor connecting India, Europe

President Biden with PM Modi at Raj Ghat Sept. 10, 2023. PHOTO: X @narendramodiNEW DELHI – President Biden and several other world leaders announced plans here Saturday afternoon for a new rail and shipping corridor that would connect India and Europe through the Middle East, an ambitious proposal aimed at further connecting a volatile region and countering China’s years-long backing of massive infrastructure projects around the world.The announcement solidified a preliminary agreement among a range of participants – including the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the European Union – and came as leaders of the world’s largest economies tried to work through divisions on a range of thorny issues.By midafternoon, the leaders here had reached consensus on a 37-page joint declaration on 83 points, several of which referred to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The debate over the war led some to predict that such a statement would prove elusive, particularly given that Russia is a member of the G-20. But they arrived at language that stated that “all...

Read More........ → September 11, 2023

Joe Biden appoints two Indian-Americans to advisory committee for Trade Policy, Negotiations

US President Joe Biden on Friday named two Indian-Americans Revathi Advaithi, CEO of Flex, and Manish Bapna, CEO of the Natural Resources Defence Council to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. On Friday, Biden announced his intent to appoint 14 people to the Advisory Committee, which provides overall policy advice to the United States Trade Representative on matters of development, implementation, and administration of the US trade policy. Among these include negotiating objectives and bargaining positions before entering into trade agreements, the impact of the implementation of trade agreements, matters concerning the operation of any trade agreement once entered into, and other matters arising in connection with the development, implementation, and administration of the trade policy of the United States, the White House said. Revathi Advaithi is CEO of Flex, "the global manufacturing partner of choice that helps a diverse customer base design and build products to improve the world". Since assuming the role in 2019, Advaithi has been responsible for architecting...

Read More........ → March 14, 2023

Biden's meeting with Bucharest Nine is signal of political attention – Lithuanian PM

Photo: Office of the President of the United StatesVILNIUS - US President Joe Biden's meeting with representatives of the Bucharest Nine, also attended by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, is an important signal of political and practical attention to NATO's eastern flank, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says."The meeting with the leaders of NATO's eastern flank countries is a very important signal. It has been mentioned many times over the years that the Article 5 guarantees are ironclad, they are very solid, but they have to be reinforced with a political dimension, with such political attention, and with a practical dimension, with the physical reinforcement of the eastern flank," Simonyte told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Thursday. "This invasion (…) has given NATO second wind."As Russia's war in Ukraine continues, many of the Bucharest Nine countries are worried that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds in Ukraine, his next target could be any of these countries.The Bucharest Nine includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,...

Read More........ → February 24, 2023