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Islamabad: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Monday that certain technical reasons were behind the delay in an agreement with the IMF as he clarified that his recent remarks about the country’s nuclear and missile programme were being used out of context.
His clarification hours after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rubbished claims that it has attached nuclear-programme-related strings for the revival of Pakistan’s much-anticipated bailout programme that has been stalled for months.
Dar last week said in the Senate that there would be no compromise on the country’s nuclear and missile programme. He made the comment in response to Senator Raza Rabbani’s questions about the delay in signing the agreement with the IMF.
In a press statement, Dar said that his comments with regards to Pakistan’s nuclear programme were in response to a colleague Senator’s specific question, wherein, “I emphasised that Pakistan has the sovereign right to develop its nuclear programme, as it best suits our national interests. Without any external dictation, which, by no means should in any way whatsoever be linked with the ongoing negotiations with the IMF.”
“It is clarified that neither the IMF nor any country has attached any conditionality or made any demand from Pakistan with regard to our nuclear capability and the delay in IMF staff-level agreement is purely due to technical reasons, for which we are continuously engaged with the IMF in order to conclude it at the earliest,” he said.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is awaiting a much-needed USD 1.1 billion tranche of funding from the Washington-based global money lender, which was originally due to be disbursed in November last year.
The funds are part of a USD 6.5 billion bailout package the IMF approved in 2019, which analysts say is critical if Pakistan is to avoid defaulting on external debt obligations.
Pakistan, currently in the throes of a major economic crisis, is grappling with high external debt, a weak local currency and dwindling foreign exchange reserves enough to shore up for barely one month’s imports.
Esther Perez Ruiz, IMF’s resident representative in Islamabad, has denied attaching any strings to the External Fund Facility (EFF), according to Geo TV.
“Regarding recent speculation that programme discussions with the authorities for the ninth review under the IMF-supported programme may have covered Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, I want to be categorical that there is absolutely no truth to this or any insinuated link between the past or current IMF supported programme and decision by any Pakistani government over its nuclear programme,” the report said, quoting the official.
The IMF chief said discussions have exclusively focused on economic policies to solve Pakistan’s economy and balance of payments problems, in line with the Fund’s mandate for promoting macroeconomic and financial stability.
Apart from the IMF, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi assailed Dar and demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issue a policy statement on remarks of Dar.
“No one has the right to tell us what kind of nuclear programme we should have and missiles of which range we should have. We have our atomic arsenal South Asia-specific and to ensure our defence,” he said.
The controversy erupted after Dar assured Parliament that the federal government would not make any compromise on the country’s nuclear and missile programme despite tough economic conditions and hurdles to secure a loan from the IMF.
“Let me assure you that nobody is going to compromise anything on the nuclear or the missile programme of Pakistan no way,” Dar told Parliament last week.
Dar also indirectly held Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its chief Imran Khan responsible for the delay in the IMF funding as he blamed the then government of Imran Khan for agreeing on tough conditions to get the funding.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan’s nuclear programme was being “jealously guarded by the state”.
Pakistan has been hosting the IMF mission since early February to negotiate the terms of the deal, including the adoption of policy measures to manage its fiscal deficit ahead of the annual budget due around June.
UBS said in a statement that it would pay the equivalent of $3.25 billion to buy Credit Suisse, in what will be a merger of two institutions considered important to the global financial system.
“With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation,” the Swiss National Bank said in its statement. It added that the deal was made possible with the support of the Swiss federal government, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA and the Swiss National Bank.
The Fed later also announced it would take steps to make it easier for five foreign central banks to exchange their currencies for dollars. The move, coordinated with the other central; banks including the European Central Bank, is aimed at easing strains in global funding markets.
Starting Monday, those currency swaps will happen daily rather than weekly.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Ankara: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday announced an extension of the Black Sea grain deal, CNN reported. However, he did not reveal details regarding the expiration date of the deal.
The deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July to ensure safe passage for ships carrying grain exports from Ukraine. The deal was set to expire today.
Speaking at an event in Turkey’s Canakkale province, Erdogan said, “As a result of our negotiations with both parties, we extended the agreement period,” as per the CNN report.
Turkish President Erdogan thanked the Russian and Ukrainian parties as well as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for their efforts to extend the agreement.
“This agreement, which has provided the shipment of 25 million tons of grain to the world markets with more than 800 ships to date, is of vital importance for the stability of the global food supply,” Erdogan said as per the CNN report.
“I would like to thank the Russian and Ukrainian parties and the UN secretary general for their efforts to extend the agreement once again,” he added.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “We remain strongly committed to both agreements and we urge all sides to redouble their efforts to implement them fully,” according to the CNN report.
The agreement comes after Russia on Monday said that it had agreed to a 60-day extension of the deal. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the move as a “goodwill gesture.” On Thursday, the UN stressed that the agreement stated it would be extended for 120 days rather than 60.
In July last year, Ukraine and Russia signed the agreement following months of negotiations brokered by the UN and Turkey. The agreement allowed the resumption of exports of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.
According to the statement released by United Nations, the Black Sea grain initiative allowed commercial food and fertilizer (including ammonia) exports from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea – Odesa, Chornomorsk, Yuzhny/Pivdennyi. The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) was established to monitor the implementation of the initiative.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
“For the prisoners, it’s good. For the country, it sucks,” said Eddy Acevedo, a Republican former Capitol Hill staffer who has helped craft U.S. policy on Nicaragua over the past seven years. “Ortega just deported his whole opposition. What happens if this gets replicated in other countries?”
The U.S. will keep on or possibly intensify the pressure campaign on Nicaragua, maybe adding new sanctions, say Biden administration officials. Yet America is struggling to protect and promote democracy not just in Nicaragua but across Latin America. Democracies in Peru and Brazil have wobbled. Relations with Mexico are strained. These diplomatic challenges for Washington come at a time when China and Russia, its chief global rivals, are making in-roads in the region.
“We’re already seeing a troubling drift toward authoritarianism and deliberate attacks on democratic institutions in Nicaragua’s neighbors, such as Guatemala and El Salvador,” said Rebecca Bill Chavez, a former Defense Department official in the Obama administration.
Nicaragua is a test case. Washington has devoted a lot of effort both to weaken and sway the Ortega regime, but has come short of its goals — a situation likely being watched by others in the region.
Some of the prisoners now released in America are urging the Biden administration to keep up the pressure on the dictatorship they hope to weaken from abroad.
“We were not the most important part of the story,” said the newly freed Juan Sebastian Chamorro, a former Nicaraguan presidential candidate. “The most important part of the story is that there are no liberties in Nicaragua. There’s no freedom. There’s no democracy.”
A bad relationship turns toxic
U.S.-Nicaragua links began unraveling more than a decade ago as it became clear that Ortega — a former rebel who fought another Nicaraguan dictator — wouldn’t leave the presidency. Relations worsened over the past five years as Ortega and Murillo strengthened their grip.
The Trump administration imposed economic sanctions and other penalties, mainly targeting individuals such as Murillo, in 2018, a year when the regime brutally cracked down on widespread protests.
In June 2021, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Nicaraguan counterpart that the United States could ease up on those penalties if Nicaragua were to move back toward democracy and improve its human rights record. (Abuses such as torture and extrajudicial executions in Nicaragua may constitute crimes against humanity, a U.N. investigative panel said earlier this month.)
Blinken’s message failed to sway the ruling power couple. Over the next few months, Ortega and Murillo imprisoned more dissidents ahead of an election.
The U.S. responded by slapping sanctions on a Nicaraguan state-owned mining company and banning visas for hundreds of Nicaraguan officials and their relatives. Biden also issued orders in October that authorized his administration to impose future sanctions on various economic sectors in Nicaragua, as well as trade and investment.
This was a major threat because it would, effectively, circumvent a trade deal between the United States, Nicaragua and a number of other countries. The United States is Nicaragua’s largest trading partner.
A no-brainer operation
On Jan. 31, Murillo called U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Kevin Sullivan and urged him to get in touch with the foreign ministry for a matter that could improve ties.
Ten days later, the 222 prisoners landed in the Washington area. According to three U.S. officials familiar with the issue, Nicaragua demanded nothing in return.
Biden aides saw taking the prisoners as a humanitarian no-brainer — so non-controversial that it was largely handled at the assistant secretary level, according to a senior National Security Council official. Biden was kept apprised throughout, a second senior NSC official said. The NSC officials, like other U.S. officials quoted, were granted anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic matters.
Multiple U.S. departments were involved in the logistics, including screening the prisoners for security risks and preparing mental health services for those who might need them. They rejected a handful of people on the original list of 228. Two people, including Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez, declined to go to the United States.
Biden administration officials knew that Ortega and Murillo could benefit by putting distance between themselves and their rivals. But the opposition hadn’t been able to do much inside Nicaragua because all the key figures were in prison.
One of the prisoners described being awakened by guards in the early morning on Feb. 9 and told to dress and be ready in 10 minutes. The prisoner and fellow detainees then boarded buses with windows covered by bars and wood. They were told to keep their heads down and mouths shut.
Toward the end of the road trip, guards on the bus handed the prisoners papers to sign. It was dark and some prisoners were reluctant to sign a document they could barely see. The guards told them that if they didn’t sign, they wouldn’t be able to leave the country. That was the first clue many prisoners had that they could soon be free.
Once the prisoners were let off the buses, they saw they were on the tarmac of the airport, next to a massive plane. “We saw a box on the tarmac that had the passports of all of us — new Nicaraguan passports,” said the former prisoner, who was granted anonymity to protect their family in Nicaragua. “This was quite an operation.”
Searching for rifts
The prisoner release could be a sign of dissension within the ruling ranks. A video said to be from late December appeared to show Ortega and Murillo parting after a disagreement, spurring ongoing speculation about a rift between the pair. After the release of the prisoners to the United States, Ortega appeared to suggest the idea came from his wife.
Reports last spring that Laureano Ortega, the child thought most likely to succeed the ruling couple, had reached out to U.S. officials about sanctions relief also led to questions about potential tensions within Nicaragua’s elite. This all comes amid speculation that Daniel Ortega’s health is failing and a lack of clarity about how loyal his supporters are to his wife.
Ortega and Murillo were once leaders in the Sandinista rebel movement, helping topple the dynastic autocracy of Nicaragua’s Somoza family. Today, they have turned into what they once loathed, their critics say.
After revoking the citizenship of the exiled dissidents, at least one of whom also has American nationality, Nicaragua’s government also stripped 94 other people of their Nicaraguan passports. Many of the latter are activists living outside the country.
Limits of U.S. power
The regime’s recent actions prompted countries such as Spain, Argentina and Chile to offer citizenship to those affected. U.S. officials, meanwhile, argued the regime squandered the goodwill it had gained by freeing the prisoners.
Still, America’s options in Nicaragua are limited.
Increasing sanctions pressure could damage Nicaragua’s economy and worsen the migration crisis in the hemisphere.
Ortega and Murillo have other potential options for international support — Russia and China. The regime supports Russia’s war in Ukraine and has permitted Moscow to place troops and military equipment on its soil. In late 2021, Nicaragua switched its diplomatic recognition away from Taiwan in favor of Beijing, in a sop of the Chinese.
Hawkish figures such as former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton have called Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela the “troika of tyranny” because of their repressive rule. The United States has taken particularly harsh measures toward each, with little success.
The Cuban communist regime has survived decades of U.S. sanctions. Biden has yet to embrace a brief diplomatic flowering of relations with Havana that began under then-President Barack Obama but was ended by then-President Donald Trump.
The Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, too, has weathered years of sanctions and other U.S. pressure. A U.S.-backed opposition effort to overthrow Maduro has largely fizzled in the past six months, and the dictator appears secure.
Some of the former Nicaraguan prisoners already are in touch with each other, looking at uniting around a common platform to oppose Ortega and Murillo from exile. “This is one of the mistakes Ortega made — he made us closer,” said Chamorro, the former presidential candidate.
Yet diaspora-led opposition movements are rarely successful, noted Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America analyst with Chatham House.
Such campaigns “don’t command the resources, they don’t command diplomatic legitimacy … they’re often very fractious,” Sabatini said. Inside Nicaragua, “there’s not going to be a popular uprising that unseats Daniel Ortega at this point. There can’t be. There’s no one to lead it.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: The China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to revive diplomatic ties should not be a matter of concern for India as the pact would provide regional stability and would be beneficial for New Delhi’s interests as well, Iranian ambassador Iraj Elahi said on Friday.
Under the deal, Iran and Saudi Arabia last week announced the full-fledged restoration of their diplomatic relations, seven years after severing the ties following a bitter row.
“I think it (the agreement) should not be a concern for India. It would be of benefit to India since it would help and intensify the stability and peace in the Persian Gulf region,” the envoy told a group of journalists.
“So it would be of benefit to India despite what has been done at the mediation of China,” he said.
The surprise announcement on the deal had taken the diplomatic circles in New Delhi by surprise.
Elahi said peace and stability in the Gulf region will benefit the Indian diaspora as well, besides resulting in greater economic engagement that would include India’s trade ties with various countries in the region.
India on Thursday welcomed the pact, saying it has always advocated dialogue and diplomacy to resolve differences.
“We have seen the reports in this regard. India has good relations with various countries in West Asia. We have deep abiding interests in that region,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
“India has always advocated dialogue and diplomacy as a way to resolve differences,” Bagchi said, without mentioning China’s role.
Asked whether Tehran is looking for investments in Iran by Riyadh under the deal, Elahi said it is expecting expansion of trade ties with both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“We are looking forward to investments not only from Saudi Arabia, but also from the UAE. We believe that the region is at a critical point. The whole region — Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and different Arab states — have an understanding now that it would be beneficial to them to bridge the gap among themselves and plan for the future,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia has a huge economy. It is a member of G20 and has enough money to invest in Iran, but it is too soon to judge the issue,” Elahi said.
On the Chabahar port, the envoy said Iran believes that the Indian government has a positive approach towards it.
“Of course there are shortcomings from both sides. We understand the willingness of the Indian government towards Chabahar. We believe that Chabahar is not just an economic issue,” he said.
The ambassador said there is a need to view the Chabahar port project as a strategic engagement and not just as an economic partnership.
“For India, Chabahar is important. For Iran also, it is important. But Iran has different ports in all parts of the Persian Gulf. We can use different ports for transit and import and export. But Chabahar is an oceanic port. It is close to the Indian Ocean and closest to the route to Afghanistan,” he said.
The Iranian ambassador said there is a need to look at Chabahar beyond economic perspectives.
“Because of this importance, the speed of cooperation, the speed of progress and the speed of promotion in Chabahar should be faster than what it is now. It is important for India as well as Iran. It will be for our benefit,” he said.
Located in Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran’s southern coast, the Chabahar port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost connectivity and trade ties.
At a connectivity conference in Tashkent in 2021, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar projected the Chabahar port as a key regional transit hub, including to Afghanistan.
FRANKFURT — Swiss banking giant UBS will buy the country’s second-largest bank Credit Suisse in a deal that will come as a relief to financial markets in Europe and across the world.
UBS said in a statement that the total price is 3 billion Swiss francs, or about $3.25 billion, in UBS shares.
The deal was pushed through in an effort to avoid further turmoil in global banking following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and another regional lender in the U.S.
“With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation,” the Swiss National Bank said in a separate statement, noting that the deal was made possible with the support of the Swiss federal government, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA and the Swiss National Bank.
The central bank added that UBS and Credit Suisse can obtain a liquidity assistance loan of up to 100 billion francs.
Highlighting the urgency of securing a deal for the bank before markets open on Monday, Swiss authorities adjusted laws to allow further provision of liquidity by the Swiss central bank, while the government agreed to provide additional guarantees.
The expeditious rescue of Credit Suisse was welcomed by the European Central Bank as well as the Federal Reserve in the U.S.
The “swift action” by the Swiss authorities “are instrumental for restoring orderly market conditions and ensuring financial stability,” ECB President Christine Lagarde said in a statement.
The 167-year-old Credit Suisse has been involved in a series of scandals that have undermined the confidence of investors and clients. It has thus found itself in the eye of the storm when the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sparked fears of a banking crisis.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
The United Kingdom, the United States and Australia have “gone further down a wrong and dangerous road” with their nuclear submarines agreement, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday.
The agreement “completely ignored the concerns of the international community,” Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing, according to CNN.
The deal will “stimulate an arms race, undermine the international nuclear non-proliferation system and damage regional peace and stability,” he added.
On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his intention to sell five nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, after meeting with the British and Australian prime ministers at a naval base in San Diego, California.
The move is part of the broader “AUKUS” alliance, which aims at strengthening the U.S., British and Australian presence in the Indo-Pacific — mostly to counter the rise of China in the region.
Asked Monday if China would consider the submarines deal as an act of aggression, Biden said “no,” according to Reuters.
Responding to the remarks for the Chinese foreign ministry, a spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Tuesday: “The AUKUS program is not about any one country.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
A deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports to pass through the blockaded Black Sea has been extended for 120 days, Ukraine announced Saturday, but Russia again griped that it would only assent to a full rollover if its own exports of food and fertilizer are freed up.
Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov thanked “all our partners for sticking to the agreements” in a tweet Saturday afternoon. “Due our joint efforts, 25M tons of Ukrainian grain” have been “delivered to world markets,” he said.
The announcement comes after a week of wrangling after Russia said Monday that it had agreed to extend the Black Sea grain initiative but only for 60 days. Moscow again dug its heels in on Saturday, however, despite objections from Kyiv and reminders from the United Nations and Turkey that the original agreement foresees a minimum 120-day extension.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, visited Crimea on Saturday on an unannounced trip to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine. Putin was greeted by the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and taken to see a new children’s center, Reuters reported.
The grain deal — described by aid groups as a lifeline for food insecure countries — was due to expire on Saturday.
Initially brokered by the U.N. and Turkey last July after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 fueled a global food crisis, the pact was extended in November for 120 days.
Russia will only consider further extending the deal if “tangible progress” is achieved in implementing its three-year deal with the U.N. to facilitate its own exports of food and fertilizer, according to a letter posted on Twitter Saturday by its mission to the U.N. in New York.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is due to attend an EU summit in Brussels next week to seek ways to unblock the Russian food and fertilizer shipments, which have been blocked by sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs and the state agricultural bank. The Kremlin argues that these these are to blame for food insecurity in the Global South.
Ukraine and Russia produce a massive chunk of the world’s grain and fertilizer, together supplying some 28 percent of globally traded wheat and 75 percent of sunflower oil during peacetime.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has called on the U.N. to broker a renewal of the deal for a full 12 months, warning that this is necessary to “to help stave off hunger in the most food insecure countries.”
The number of people facing food insecurity rose from 282 million at the end of 2021 to a record 345 million last year, according to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). Africa is one of the hardest-hit regions, with eastern African countries like Somalia and Ethiopia in particular facing extreme hunger.
“Shipments of grain to countries most in need, including Somalia, hinge on the critical renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the IRC said, adding that Somalia receives over 90 percent of its grain from Ukraine.
This story has been updated.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
BRUSSELS — The EU is finalizing a €2 billion deal to jointly restock Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition supplies while refilling countries’ stocks, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.
The plan has two major elements.
First, the EU will spend €1 billion to partially reimburse countries that can immediately donate ammunition from their own stockpiles. Secondly, countries will work together to jointly purchase €1 billion in new ammunition — the idea being that together they can negotiate bigger contracts at a lower price-per-shell.
EU ambassadors will discuss the proposal — prepared by the EU’s diplomatic wing, the European External Action Service — during a meeting on Wednesday.
The scheme — which POLITICO first reported on earlier this month — has come together rapidly in recent weeks in response to Ukraine’s pleas for more ammunition, specifically the 155-millimeter artillery shells it desperately needs to both hold territory and launch a spring counteroffensive.
And the figures, one of the documents notes, respond “to a specific request made by the Ukrainian minister of defense.”
The numbers are stark.
Estonia, which helped start the conversation in February about how the EU could jointly help fill a looming munitions shortage, has estimated that Russia is burning through 20,000-60,000 shells per day while Ukraine is trying to judiciously only use between 2,000 and 7,000.
Covering that figure will not come easy — or cheap.
Thus far, EU countries have only provided Ukraine with 350,000 155-millimeter shells in total, with the EU spending €450 million on partial reimbursements, said one EU official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic. But the official pegged the cost for each new shell at €4,000, meaning costs are growing.
To cover both the losses of countries dipping into their stockpiles and funding new ammunition buys, the EU is tapping the so-called European Peace Facility. The little-known fund sits outside of the EU’s normal budget, giving officials the flexibility to use it to cover weapons purchases — once a verboten concept within the EU, a self-proclaimed peace project.
Thus far, the facility has been used solely to partially reimburse countries for their weapons donations to Ukraine. Now, documents show countries are willing to funnel an additional €2 billion into the facility — €1 billion to cover some ammunition donations and €1 billion to support joint purchases of replacement shells.
Ukrainian artillerymen in the vicinity of Bakhmut, Donetsk | Ihor Tkachov/AFP via Getty Images
The documents foresee the European Defense Agency, an EU agency meant to better coordinate members’ security efforts, possibly playing a role in coordinating the joint procurement efforts. But individual countries could also help spearhead these negotiations, as long as the country is working with at least two other EU members and not creating competing bids for the shells that drive up prices.
The joint procurement plan covers not just EU countries but Norway as well — as POLITICO first reported — potentially opening the door to some of the money going to non-EU-based companies. Norway, however, which produces ammunition, is already relatively integrated into the EU market.
EU officials are now aiming to get a consensus agreement on the plan during a meeting on Monday of foreign and defense ministers, before getting final sign-off from the 27 EU leaders at a summit in Brussels.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )
