VIF Neighbourhood News Digest: September 09, 2022

Afghanistan

UAE company to manage planes at major Afghanistan airports - Pajhwok

Abu Dhabi-based firm GAAC Solutions will provide flight services and manage planes at three major airports of Afghanistan under a deal signed. Click here to read... [2]

Afghanistan Food Security Update Round 11: July 2022 - Relief Web

Afghanistan continues to face alarming levels of hunger. Month after month, some nine in ten households continue to face insufficient food consumption. The repercussions of the global food crisis are threatening to wreak further havoc on food security. Click here to read... [3]

Bangladesh

India's rice export rates hit one-year peak on high demand from Bangladesh - Business Standard

Prices of rice exported from India held firm near their highest level in more than a year this week as demand from neighbouring Bangladesh remained strong, while supply concerns and an uptick in demand buoyed rates in Thailand. Click here to read... [4]

Engaging with Bangladesh - Financial Express

By all accounts, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India was fruitful with several outcomes on the table. India’s relations with fast-rising Bangladesh—which will soon graduate from UN’s least developed country status to a developing country—are a stellar example of its Neighbourhood First policy thrust to integrate South Asia. Click here to read... [5]

Bhutan

Temenos And Bahwan CyberTek Forge Exclusive Partnership To Expand Market Reach Across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal And Bhutan - Indian Education Dictionary

Temenos (SIX: TEMN) and Bahwan CyberTek (BCT), a global digital transformation company, today announced the signing of an exclusive strategic agreement to scale Temenos’ operations in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. As part of the agreement, BCT will market, implement, and support all Temenos products and solutions in these countries. Click here to read... [6]

Maldives

Ruling party feud casts shadow over election prospects in the Maldives - The Hindu

There is a factional war going on within the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the first registered political party in the Maldives and widely seen as the closest ally of India, like the Awami League of Bangladesh. The faction feud, however, threatens to make the average Maldivian reconsider voting for the party in 2023. Click here to read... [7]

Shark-fishing ban faces pushback from small-scale Maldives anglers - Business.com

In 2021, faced with an economy battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the island nation of Maldives considered lifting a ban on shark fishing that had been in place since 2010. A global outcry followed, and the government quickly abandoned the idea. Click here to read... [8]

Myanmar

Price of medicines soars in Myanmar, leaving clinics short of supplies - RFA

Rises in the cost of medicines in Myanmar are leaving many without access to treatment, with prices of basic drugs sometimes doubling and clinics often short of supplies, sources in the military-ruled country say. Click here to read... [9]

Resistance Groups Hail Ambushes on Myanmar Junta Boats - The Irrawaddy

At least 12 Myanmar junta soldiers were reportedly killed by resistance groups during attacks on regime motorboats on the Chindwin River in three Sagaing Region townships within two days. On Tuesday evening, fighting broke out in Myaung Township when 27 resistance groups attacked four junta boats. Click here to read... [10]

Myanmar Junta Adviser Calls for Better Civil-Military Relations - The Irrawaddy

While the Myanmar military regime is torching villages, committing extrajudicial killings and launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians, junta adviser Dr. Zaw Oo says there is a need for “good civil-military relations” and urged anyone involved in Myanmar issues to take his call seriously. Click here to read... [11]

Putin Says ‘Impossible’ to Isolate Russia, Vows Gas and Oil Supply Cuts - The Irrawaddy

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday it was “impossible” to isolate Moscow and vowed to cut gas and oil deliveries to countries imposing a price cap on supplies. Speaking at an economic forum, over six months after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, the Russian leader sought to pivot towards allies in Asia, the Middle East and Africa as his country faces a barrage of Western sanctionsClick here to read... [12]

Myanmar is emerging as a human trafficking hub in Southeast Asia and this interestingly involves Chinese citizens as victims. Shwe Kokko New City in southeast Myanmar’s Karen State has allegedly become a people-trafficking hubClick here to read... [13]

Nepal

Bangladesh asks India for passage to buy Nepal’s energy - Kathmandu Post

Bangladesh has requested India for a power transmission corridor to import electricity generated in Nepal. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who wrapped up her four-day official visit to India on Thursday, took up the matter with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, seeking New Delhi’s permission to use the Indian territory for power transmission. Click here to read... [14]

Many sides to Nepal visit of China’s top legislator - Kathmandu Post

Li Zhanshu, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, is arriving on a three-day official visit to Kathmandu on Monday. He leads an eight dozen-strong delegation of ministers, deputy ministers, officials and leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.Click here to read... [15]

Pakistan

Pakistan court to indict former PM Imran Khan in contempt case - Aljazeera

A court in Pakistan has ruled that it will indict former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of contempt of court relating to remarks made against the judge of a lower court, and charges against him will be framed on September 22. Click here to read... [16]

Floods in Pakistan and the pulls and pressures of India-Pak disaster diplomacy - Indian Express

As a flood that has been described as one of Biblical proportions devastated Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences and hoped “for an early restoration of normalcy”. “Saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the injured and all those affected by this natural calamity and hope for an early restoration of normalcy,” Modi said in a tweet on August 29Click here to read... [17]

Sri Lanka

Ranil expands govt. with 37 new State Ministers, draws backlash - The Hindu

Sri Lanka on Thursday appointed 37 State ministers, including one from the Rajapaksa family, as President Ranil Wickremesinghe expanded his government amid efforts to set the country’s battered economy on a recovery path. Click here to read... [18]

Sri Lanka’s August Dollar reserves revealed - News Wire

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Exchange reserves were down to 1,716 million US dollars in August 2022, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported. According to CBSL data, the forex reserves had dropped in August from the 1,817 million US dollars reported in July 2022. Sri Lanka’s gross forex reserves have tended to fluctuate between 1.9 to 1.8 billion since March 2022 after running out of previously collected reserves. Click here to read... [19]