PAKISTAN
Pak, India foreign ministers to hold meeting on sidelines of UNGA: Indian MEA: Dawn
September 21, 2018
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York later this month, said the Indian Ministry of External Affairs' spokesperson on Thursday. Earlier this month, Indian PM Narendra Modi, in his a communique to Prime Minister Imran Khan, had stated that he seeks "meaningful and constructive" engagement between the two neighbours. In reciprocation, PM Khan recently reached out to the Indian premier, officially extending the offer to resume peace talks. Indian Ministry of External Affairs confirmed PM Khan's approach today, with its spokesperson Raveesh Kumar saying: "The letter we have received was a response to that letter which was handed over to us by Pakistan's High Commissioner to India on Sept 17. Click here to read....
Pakistan’s effort to end terrorist financing remains uneven: US: Dawn
September 21, 2018
As the new government in Islamabad starts work on addressing the concerns related to money laundering and terror financing, a US State Department report released on Thursday said that Pakistan criminalised terrorist financing through the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), but its implementation remained uneven. Pakistan is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering — a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-style regional body. In June, the Paris-based FATF placed Pakistan on its grey list of countries that could be marked out for economic sanctions if they failed to prevent terrorists from collecting funds within their domain. Click here to read....
AFGHANISTAN
Afghan Delegation in Moscow to Discuss Format of Meeting: Tolo News
September 20, 2018
Russia's Foreign Ministry official said on Thursday that an Afghan delegation would address the details related to holding the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan, according to India’s ANI report. The report stated that according to Russian officials, members of the Taliban are also ready to participate in the Moscow format meeting on Afghanistan. Sputnik meanwhile reported that Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department Director, Zamir Kabulov, saiddiscussions are underway regarding the details of the upcoming talks. "Details related to holding the Moscow format meeting, postponed at the request of the Afghan side, will be discussed," Kabulov said. Click here to read....
NEPAL
Women to head half of parliamentary panels
September 21, 2018
In a major fillip to women’s leadership, 50 percent committees of the federal parliament will be headed by female lawmakers. As six women MPs from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) were elected unopposed chairpersons of the thematic committees under the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday, the federal parliament will have eight committees led by women. On Thursday, chairpersons of the ten thematic committees were elected unopposed. The result will be declared on Friday. Click here to read....
MYANMAR
U.N. chief urges Myanmar government to free Reuters journalists: Reuters
September 20, 2018
t is not acceptable to have the journalists of Reuters being in jail for what they were doing,” Guterres told reporters at the United Nations in response to a question about Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent remarks on the case. “It is my deep belief that that should not happen and I hope that the government will be able to provide a pardon to release them as quickly as possible.” Reuters reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were convicted on Sept. 3 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act in a case seen as a test of democratic freedoms in Myanmar. The reporters, who pleaded not guilty, said they were handed rolled papers by police shortly before they were detained last December, and a police witness testified in court that they had been set up. Click here to read....
CHINA
New policies focused on high quality: China Daily
September 21, 2018
The Communist Party of China Central Committee on Thursday stressed the importance of implementing reforms in order to bring about high-quality development. Leadership should be strengthened to ensure good coordination in deepening reforms with a focus on solving practical problems during the process, according to a statement released after a meeting of the Committee for Deepening Overall Reform of the CPC Central Committee, chaired by General Secretary Xi Jinping, who is president, and also director of the committee. Click here to read....
Xi calls for focusing reforms on solving practical problems: People's Daily
September 21, 2018
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), called for focusing reforms on solving practical problems on Thursday. Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks while presiding over the fourth meeting of the central committee for deepening overall reform, which he heads. Both the importance and difficulty of reform lie in implementation, Xi said. Saying that there are more and more favorable conditions for carrying out reforms and focusing on implementation, he called for putting more energy and efforts into implementation and focusing reforms on solving real problems. Click here to read....
Premier Li holds dialogue with representatives attending Summer Davos: People's Daily
September 21, 2018
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday held a dialogue with representatives from communities such as industry and commerce, finance, think tanks and media outlets attending the Summer Davos 2018 in Tianjin. At the dialogue, hosted by Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Li responded to questions about China's financial opening-up, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, tax and fee reduction, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the reform of the world trade system. Click here to read....
