Tag: talks

Naga peace talks will be successful, says Amit Shah

[ad_1]
Kohima: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continued the Naga peace talks, adding it will be a successful one.
Addressing an election rally in Tuensang Sadar in Nagaland, the Home Minister said that the Narendra Modi government has taken forward both peace and development in Nagaland.
“Naga peace talks are going on. What PM Modi has started will be successful, and Naga culture, language, attire, tradition and history would be protected and developed in the coming days,” he told the gathering.
The Home Minister, expressing his happiness about the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation’s (ENPO) withdrawal of the vote boycott (February 27), said that all the issues of ENPO had been discussed and an agreement would be signed after the assembly elections.
“Due to the model code of conduct of the assembly elections, an agreement could not be signed. After the February 27 assembly polls, an agreement would be signed by the Union Home Ministry ensuring the Naga people’s rights and development,” Shah said.
The influential Naga body, ENPO, after getting an assurance from the Home Minister on February 4, withdrew its call to boycott the February 27 Assembly polls in support of its demand for a separate ‘Frontier Nagaland’ state.
The Home Minister said that the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act (AFSPA) was withdrawn from 15 police station areas of seven Nagaland districts, and within three to four years, the AFSPA would be withdrawn from the entire Nagaland.
As the Modi government has done a lot of work, including peace accords with several militant outfits, incidents of extremist violence have been reduced by 70 percent in the entire northeast region during the past eight years, he said.

Shah said that the killing of civilians reduced by 83 percent and the killing of security personnel came down to 60 percent in eight years.
He also said that Narendra Modi is the only Prime Minister who has visited the northeast more than 50 times and took the development of the region to a new height.
Noting that for the first time in 75 years, a poor tribal woman became the President of India, the Union Minister said that the Central budget for the development of tribal areas and tribal people was Rs 21,000 crore before 2014, and now it has been increased to Rs 86,000 crore.
The Home Minister said that to develop the remote and far-flung areas of the northeast, satellite-based surveys and monitoring are being conducted for 130 infrastructure projects.
Since 2015, 53 large infrastructure projects have been completed and 142 such projects are now in the pipeline in Nagaland, he said, adding that 14 lakh people of Nagaland are getting 5 kg of rice per month free of cost.
The Home Minister also highlighted the Centre’s help in providing housing, water supply, cash transfer to farmers and health support.
The Home Minister addressed an election rally in Nagaland’s Mon town on Monday and spent the night in Mon town.
Shah also met representatives of ENPO and other organisations during his stay in Mon district, bordering Myanmar.
[ad_2]
#Naga #peace #talks #successful #Amit #Shah
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 21, 2023
China talks ‘peace,’ woos Europe and trashes Biden in Munich

[ad_1]
Press play to listen to this article
Voiced by artificial intelligence.
MUNICH — China is trying to drive a fresh wedge between Europe and the United States as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine trudges past its one-year mark.
Such was the motif of China’s newly promoted foreign policy chief Wang Yi when he broke the news at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that President Xi Jinping would soon present a “peace proposal” to resolve what Beijing calls a conflict — not a war — between Moscow and Kyiv. And he pointedly urged his European audience to get on board and shun the Americans.
In a major speech, Wang appealed specifically to the European leaders gathered in the room.

“We need to think calmly, especially our friends in Europe, about what efforts should be made to stop the warfare; what framework should there be to bring lasting peace to Europe; what role should Europe play to manifest its strategic autonomy,” said Wang, who will continue his Europe tour with a stop in Moscow.
In contrast, Wang launched a vociferous attack on “weak” Washington’s “near-hysterical” reaction to Chinese balloons over U.S. airspace, portraying the country as warmongering.
“Some forces might not want to see peace talks to materialize,” he said, widely interpreted as a reference to the U.S. “They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, [nor] the harms on Europe. They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself. This warfare must not continue.”
Yet at the conference, Europe showed no signs of distancing itself from the U.S. nor pulling back on military support for Ukraine. The once-hesitant German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Europe to give Ukraine even more modern tanks. And French President Emmanuel Macron shot down the idea of immediate peace talks with the Kremlin.
And, predictably, there was widespread skepticism that China’s idea of “peace” will match that of Europe.
“China has not been able to condemn the invasion,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a group of reporters. Beijing’s peace plan, he added, “is quite vague.” Peace, the NATO chief emphasized, is only possible if Russia respects Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Europe watches with caution
Wang’s overtures illustrate the delicate dance China has been trying to pull off since the war began.
Keen to ensure Russia is not weakened in the long run, Beijing has offered Vladimir Putin much-needed diplomatic support, while steering clear of any direct military assistance that would attract Western sanctions against its economic and trade relations with the world.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Wang while in Munich | Johannes Simon/Getty Images
“We will put forward China’s position on the political settlement on the Ukraine crisis, and stay firm on the side of peace and dialogue,” Wang said. “We do not add fuel to the fire, and we are against reaping benefit from this crisis.”
According to Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who met Wang earlier this week, Xi will make his “peace proposal” on the first anniversary of the war, which is Friday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Wang while in Munich. He said he hoped to have a “frank” conversation with the Beijing envoy.
“We believe that compliance with the principle of territorial integrity is China’s fundamental interest in the international arena,” Kuleba told journalists in Munich. “And that commitment to the observance and protection of this principle is a driving force for China, greater than other arguments offered by Ukraine, the United States, or any other country.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is also expected to meet Wang later on Saturday.
Many in Munich were wary of the upcoming Chinese plan.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed China’s effort to use its influence to foster peace but told reporters she had “talked intensively” with Wang during a bilateral meeting on Friday about “what a just peace means: not rewarding the attacker, the aggressor, but standing up for international law and for those who have been attacked.”
“A just peace,” she added, “presupposes that the party that has violated territorial integrity — meaning Russia — withdraws its troops from the occupied country.”
One reason for Europe’s concerns is the Chinese peace plan could undermine an effort at the United Nations to rally support for a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which will be on the U.N.’s General Assembly agenda next week, according to three European officials and diplomats.
Taiwan issue stokes up US-China tension
If China was keen to talk about peace in Ukraine, it’s more reluctant to do so in a case closer to home.
When Wolfgang Ischinger, the veteran German diplomat behind the conference, asked Wang if he could reassure the audience Beijing was not planning an imminent military escalation against Taiwan, the Chinese envoy was non-committal.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “what is happening in Europe today could happen in east Asia tomorrow” | Johannes Simon/Getty Images
“Let me assure the audience that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. It has never been a country and it will never be a country in the future,” Wang said.
The worry over Taiwan resonated in a speech from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said “what is happening in Europe today could happen in east Asia tomorrow.” Reminding the audience of the painful experience of relying on Russia’s energy supply, he said: “We should not make the same mistakes with China and other authoritarian regimes.”
But China’s most forceful attack was reserved for the U.S. Calling its decision to shoot down Chinese and other balloons “absurd” and “near-hysterical,” Wang said: “It does not show the U.S. is strong; on the contrary, it shows it is weak.
Wang also amplified the message in other bilateral meetings, including one with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “U.S. bias and ignorance against China has reached a ridiculous level,” he said. “The U.S. … has to stop this kind of absurd nonsense out of domestic political needs.”
It remains unclear if Wang will hold a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken while in Germany, as has been discussed.
Hans von der Burchard and Lili Bayer reported from Munich, and Stuart Lau reported from Brussels.

[ad_2]
#China #talks #peace #woos #Europe #trashes #Biden #Munich
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 16, 2023
Nagaland polls: BJP’s ‘Vision Document’ talks of promoting Naga culture

[ad_1]
Kohima: Preserving a rich Naga identity and culture including establishment of a dedicated Nagaland Cultural Research Fund with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, inclusive development, agricultural and farmer and women’s welfare are some of the pre-poll commitments made in the BJP’s Nagaland ‘Vision Document’ ahead of the February 27 assembly polls.
Releasing the ‘Vision Document-2023’ in Kohima on Tuesday, BJP President J.P. Nadda said that if the BJP-Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) comes to power, Saramati Cultural University would be established in Kiphire with an investment of Rs 500 crore to promote Naga culture, Rs 100 crore to be spent to promote and expand the scope of all major tribal festivals, he said.
Nadda promised that the Eastern Nagaland Development Board would be set up for the holistic development of the region and a special package for the development of Eastern Nagaland would be given.
The BJP leader said that the Central government would expedite the construction of the Trans-Nagaland Highway to enable easy access across districts, especially from Eastern Nagaland.
The BJP in its ‘Vision Document’ promised that free rice and wheat per month and 5 kg black chickpeas and one litre of mustard oil per family quarterly, would be provided at a subsidised rate to all PDS beneficiaries monthly.
The rate of existing social pension would be increased to Rs 1,000 per month for senior citizens, specially-abled, and widows, health insurance cards would be provided for cashless medical facilities for all government employees, it said.
The BJP promised that in conjunction with the Central government, affordable housing would be provided to all under PM Awas Yojana by 2025.
The ‘Vision Document-2023’ also committed to increasing the financial assistance under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme from the current Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per annum.

An Agri-Infrastructure Mission would be launched with an investment of Rs 500 crore, the party assured.
It said that the Neidonuo Angami Women Welfare Scheme would be introduced under which a bond of Rs 50,000 would be provided on the birth of a girl child.
The BJP said that if it comes to power, it would provide free-of-cost, quality education to all female students from K-G to P-G, and 2 free-of-cost LPG cylinders would be provided for all Ujjwala beneficiaries every year, while a scooty would be provided to meritorious college-going female students.
For youth’s empowerment, the BJP government would provide 2 lakh self-employment opportunities in the next 5 years while Rs 500 crore would be invested to launch a Nagaland Skill Development University to train the youth and make them job-ready, the Vision Document said, adding that digital tablets would be provided to all the meritorious students of Classes 10 and 12.
The party also said that timely completion and commencement of the Kohima and Mon Medical Colleges would be ensured.
If the BJP comes to power, it would constitute the Nagaland Anti Narcotics Task Force under the Chief Medical Officers to curb the drugs menace in the state.
[ad_2]
#Nagaland #polls #BJPs #Vision #Document #talks #promoting #Naga #culture
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 14, 2023
Tough times ahead for Pakistan as talks with IMF fails

[ad_1]
Islamabad: Tough times are ahead for Pakistan as Islamabad and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have failed to reach a staff-level agreement on a much-needed USD 1.1 billion bailout package aimed at preventing the country from going bankrupt.
Analysts believe that the current economic crisis in Pakistan is a culmination of decades of faulty policies, reported The Al Arabiya Post.
Pakistan is seeking a USD 7 billion bailout package from the IMF to prevent the collapse of the economy. While the visiting IMF delegation is asking for several reforms and compliance with its conditionality.
The IMF mission, led by Nathan Porter, began talks on January 31 with the Pakistan government represented by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for the ninth review of the assistance package.
PM Sharif, while addressing an apex committee meeting in Peshawar following Monday’s mosque bombing that killed over 100 people, said, “As I speak, the IMF delegation is in Islamabad and they are giving Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his team a tough time.”
Notably, the resource allocation pattern in Pakistan from one budget to another puts a disproportionate focus on populism and militarization. This has put an additional burden on its exchequer leading to an unsustainable fiscal gap, reported Al Arabiya Post.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on February 3 that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was giving a “tough time” to his country over the restoration of stalled bailout package at a time of “unimaginable” crisis.
Shehbaz Sharif admitted that the country has no option but to accept the IMF conditionality. “You all know we are running short of resources,” Sharif said, adding the country was “facing an acute economic crisis”.

Moreover, the Pakistani rupee, which has been in a steep slide since last week, hit a record low against the US dollar. The Pakistani rupee fell by 1.9 per cent to a record low of 276.58 per dollar in the inter-bank market the same day, according to the Central Bank, reported Al Arabiya Post.
As the IMF bailout package is conditional on Pakistan implementing IMF suggested measures, its release would require Islamabad to take tough decisions.
After the first round of technical talks between the IMF team and the government concluded on February 4, Pak Prime Minister observed that the lender was imposing conditions that were “beyond our wildest dreams”.
The discussions covered details of expenditure and revenue performance to identify the policy measures- both revenue and non-revenue- that would have to be taken over the next four months of the current fiscal year. The Pak Prime Ministered, despite calling the IMF conditionality unimaginable acknowledged that the country had no choice but to implement the conditions.
It has been seen that Islamabad has a policy obduracy and inertia that prohibit it to shun its populist policies and take reform measures on debt, fiscal, trade and structural fronts to address its economic woes, reported Al Arabiya Post.
Analysts opine that the rocky road Pakistan is passing through is its own creation. In the first instance, a debt-dependent growth strategy is itself a sure recipe to fall into a debt trap, especially when industrial growth and diversification are limited and the export basket is primarily made up of primary goods.
The debt dependence has also eroded the sovereignty of Pakistan and the country’s economic and foreign policies are dictated by those who provide funds. Such dependence on external funding has impeded the structural transformation of the Pak economy and its indigenous growth impetus.
Secondly, an artificially designed threat perception in Pakistan created by the vested interests in Islamabad’s establishment has totally distorted the allocation of resources in the country giving undue emphasis on militarisation in the name of preparing for a threat that does not exist.
The third most remarkable flaw in Pakistan’s economic policy is a deliberate and foolhardy choice of missing the development opportunities generated by free trade, reported Al Arabiya Post.
While Pakistan has a good location to leverage the presence of two giant economies in its neighbourhood, it has opted to isolate one of them and sided with the other at the cost of huge losses in trade creation.
Not giving the Most Favoured Nation status to India and keeping the trade routes closed for direct trade is a self-defeating proposition.
Islamabad could no more avoid taking hard decisions. The situation continues to deteriorate. With only around USD 3.10 billion in foreign exchange reserves, which can only cover 18 days’ worth of imports, and a shortage of basic goods including food and medicine and ever-spiralling inflation, the choice to comply with the IMF conditionality would not be easy for Pakistan.
[ad_2]
#Tough #times #ahead #Pakistan #talks #IMF #fails
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 11, 2023
PM Modi On Pathaan: Shah Rukh Khan starrer reaches parliament as PM Narendra Modi talks about theatres running in Srinagar – Kashmir News

[ad_1]
PM Modi On Pathaan: Shah Rukh Khan starrer reaches parliament as PM Narendra Modi talks about theatres running in Srinagar – Kashmir News
Dems fret policing talks will be tangled with Tim Scott’s presidential hopes

[ad_1]
Neither Scott nor any other congressional Republican was invited to what’s seen as the opening act of policing discussions after Nichols’ death last month following a brutal beating by Memphis officers: Thursday’s Black Caucus meeting with President Joe Biden. The all-Democratic invite list went out despite the House’s record-high four Black Republicans in office — a group that could be influential in steering the GOP majority. And there’s no guarantee they’ll agree with Scott, who reiterated Wednesday on Twitter that he’s opposed to Democrats’ Floyd bill but cracked the door to other options.
A Scott spokesperson pointed to the senator’s tweet when asked whether he would take part in negotiations, and did not respond to follow-up questions about whether Scott’s presidential aspirations affected the talks.
Underscoring the hot-potato nature of a topic of critical importance to many Black voters, it’s not clear that all four of those Black House Republicans even want a seat at the table on policing legislation.
“We don’t look at it in terms of, ‘Well, we’re Black members, so we should be leading the talks,’” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). “We need to have people who have expertise in law enforcement and what policy ideas up here mean for local agencies — they have to be a part of that conversation. They should, frankly, be leading good chunks of that conversation.”
In meetings this week as they prepared to sit down with Biden, many Black Caucus members came to the conclusion that the legislative plan would need to be a scaled-back version of the Floyd bill that stalled in the Senate last term. Talks on a compromise had reached an impasse, mostly over changing qualified immunity, a protection that shields officers from being held personally liable for certain actions on the job.
“The idea that qualified immunity, if y’all aren’t going to give us that going at minimum, let the departments be held accountable. And I do think that that could be something that is conceivable,” said a senior Democratic aide familiar with the conversations who was granted anonymity to describe the group’s position.
Working with Republicans would be a balancing act. Democrats need to give in to certain demands to see any action at all, but they’re leery of signing off on a bill with little to no teeth that Congress can cite as evidence of progress.
However, some Democrats are ready to embrace legislation they’ll sell as a temporary fix, optimistic they could earn back a House majority next Congress and pass more robust legislation later.

Scott’s “view is not as far as mine,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a former Black Caucus chair. “But if that’s what we have to settle for, and get something else later, that’s what I’m going to do.”
And Carter, the Louisiana Democrat, said that while he thought the Floyd bill was a “solid one,” being “pliable enough to hear other ideas is smart.” He cited how he departed from other Democrats on how much to reform qualified immunity.
There’s hope within the Black Caucus that Scott’s coming back to the table would signal a possibility of actually passing a bill that would earn the necessary 60 Senate votes, even if the Republican-controlled House declined to take it up.
“That doesn’t mean he’s going to pass it, because he will ultimately say, ‘I did my part. The House is not ready.’ But he can show that, look, I can do hard things,” the same senior Democratic aide said.
But there’s no guarantee negotiators won’t experience a severe case of deja vu. The last round of talks collapsed after both parties were unable to close the gap on a few major sticking points, including changes to qualified immunity and restrictions on the use of force. Negotiators ended up trying to craft a more narrowly focused package before discussions totally fell apart.
After a nearly two-hour meeting with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, CBC Chair Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said they and the White House were “in agreement” on plans in three categories: legislation, possible executive action and community-based solutions. He wouldn’t expand on what those agreements looked like.
“We’re not drawing lines in the sand,” Horsford told reporters. “We understand that it is about the culture of policing and keeping communities safe. All of us should be able to agree that bad policing has no place in any American city or community.”
Going into the meeting, CBC members planned to push the president to use the bully pulpit to bring the issue back into the forefront of the political arena, specifically using next week’s State of the Union address to zero in on the issue.
While lawmakers wouldn’t say whether Biden made any commitments, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) said that “you’ll certainly hear from the president … in the days ahead.”
“We are sick and tired of human beings being turned into hashtags. This has got to stop,” he added.
Biden told lawmakers he wanted to “talk about whatever you want to talk about … how to make progress on police reform of consequence and violence in our community.”
Still, some Democrats remain optimistic about working with Scott and other Republicans again. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called preliminary talks with Scott a “productive, useful first start.”
And as Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) observed: “It’s not going to all happen in one fell swoop. But public sentiment shifts pretty quickly sometimes.”

[ad_2]
#Dems #fret #policing #talks #tangled #Tim #Scotts #presidential #hopes
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 3, 2023
No talks in MVA over taking Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA on board: Sharad Pawar

[ad_1]
Kolhapur: Days after Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) forged an alliance, NCP leader Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that so far no talks were held among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents about taking the VBA on board.
Pawar said the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Thackeray-led Sena will contest the upcoming elections together.
He was talking to reporters at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra.
Responding to a query about the Sena (UBT) and VBA’s alliance, the former Union minister said, “No talks were held (in the MVA) regarding Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA ahead of the elections. We do not know what is going on between the two parties…we will not discuss anything over it.”
“Congress, NCP, and Thackeray-led Sena will together contest upcoming elections. We have not held any discussion with Ambedkar,” he said.
The NCP and Thackeray-led Sena are part of the MVA along with the Congress. The three-party alliance was in power from 2019 till the end of June last year. The government led by Thackeray collapsed following a rebellion by his party’s senior leader Eknath Shinde and his supporting MLAs, who joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and came to power.
The BJP has reportedly said that it will seek MVA’s support so that the upcoming by-polls to the Kasba and Chinchwad assembly seats in Pune are held unopposed. Byelections are necessitated as the sitting BJP MLAs from these seats died recently. When asked about it, Pawar said, “I don’t know to whom (state BJP chief) Chandrakant Patil is writing a letter about it. I have no information on that. I don’t know how he didn’t think about unopposed elections during the by-polls in Kolhapur and Pandharpur.”
When asked about the early morning oath-taking ceremony of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in November 2019, the NCP president replied, “It’s been two years now. Why are you raking up that topic?”

After the 2019 Assembly poll results, Fadnavis had returned as chief minister with Ajit Pawar as his deputy on November 23 that year. Both were sworn in a hush-hush early morning ceremony, but the government lasted only 80 hours.
On a query about Telangana Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao, Pawar said he is trying to bring together leaders of various parties.
[ad_2]
#talks #MVA #Prakash #Ambedkarled #VBA #board #Sharad #Pawar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 28, 2023
IMF delegation to visit Pakistan next week for talks on 9th review: official

[ad_1]
Islamabad: An international Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation will visit Pakistan next week to discuss the ninth review of the USD 7 billion Extended Fund Facility, Dawn reported citing the official.
According to the statement released by the IMF, the international fund organization Resident Representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz said: “At the request of the authorities, an in-person Fund mission is scheduled to visit Islamabad [from] January 31 – February 9 to continue the discussions under the ninth EFF review.”
The Pakistani rupee has dived to a historic low against the United States dollar after an exchange cap was lifted as the cash-strapped country seeks the help from IMF. Earlier, Pakistan entered a USD 6 billion programme in 2019 but later on, it increased to USD 7 billion.
If everything goes well then the international organization would release USD 1.8 billion, which is still pending, according to Dawn.
It had earlier been put off for two months due to the Pakistan Muslim League-N-led government’s unwillingness to accept certain conditions placed before it by the IMF, and the disagreements have yet to be resolved.
However, it is pertinent to mention that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has indicated that the government is finally ready to swallow the bitter pill of the IMF’s “stringent” conditions to revive the loan programme.
In the statement, Ruiz said that the mission would focus on policies to restore domestic and external sustainability, including strengthening the fiscal position with durable and high-quality measures while supporting the vulnerable and those affected by the floods; restoring the viability of the power sector and reverse the continued accumulation of circular debt; and re-establish the proper functioning of the foreign exchange market, allowing the exchange rate to clear the forex shortage.
“Stronger policy efforts and reforms are critical to reduce the current elevated uncertainty that weighs on the outlook, strengthen Pakistan’s resilience, and obtain financing support from official partners and the markets that is vital for Pakistan’s sustainable development,” Dawn quoted her as saying.

The Financial Post recently reported that with Pakistan Finance Ministry being unable to furnish tenable answers for the IMF to commence formal negotiations on the 9th review, it may delay the release of funds from the IMF.
The IMF visit to Pakistan scheduled for October has been delayed amidst differences between Pakistan’s commitment to the IMF on fiscal consolidation.
“Pakistan and the global lender continued talks virtually but differences still persisted over tax collection targets, and non-starter energy reforms including hiking of gas tariff, rising circular debt, and expenditure overrun, making consensus harder to strike on a staff-level agreement for completion of the review,” according to the Financial Post report.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that the government knows that it has no other option but to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and face humiliation and that their legs start shaking at the name of elections, reported The Express Tribune.
[ad_2]
#IMF #delegation #visit #Pakistan #week #talks #9th #review #official
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 27, 2023
Musk wishes McCarthy happy birthday, and talks Twitter too

[ad_1]
Elon Musk, the former richest man in the world — and frequent sparring partner with Democrats on Twitter — met with Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries. | Cathleen Allison/AP Photo
Elon Musk stopped by the Capitol on Thursday, popping into House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office to wish him happy birthday — and to talk about Washington’s favorite social media platform.
The former richest man in the world — and frequent sparring partner with Democrats on Twitter — met with McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, tweeting that they talked about “ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.” It was apparently Musk’s first visit to the Capitol in the 118th Congress, but he managed to maneuver his way through the complex without answering any questions from reporters.
After a reporter tweeted out an initial Musk sighting, a gaggle of journalists descended on the speaker’s office around 4:30 p.m. About 30 minutes later, McCarthy emerged, telling reporters that Musk came by to wish him happy birthday (the California lawmaker’s birthday is in fact today) and that they had been friends for a long time.

[ad_2]
#Musk #wishes #McCarthy #happy #birthday #talks #Twitter
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 27, 2023
US lawmakers press to remove oil boss from leading COP28 climate talks

[ad_1]

A group of U.S. lawmakers wants the Biden administration to ask the United Arab Emirates to remove the oil company chief the country chose to lead the next U.N. climate talks — or at a minimum “seek assurances” that the UAE will promote an ambitious COP28 summit.
In a letter to Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry, 27 members of the House and Senate called for him to “urge” the UAE to withdraw the appointment of UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is also the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to lead the COP28 discussions, which start November 30 in Dubai. The company is one of the world’s largest oil producers.
“The appointment of an oil company executive to head COP 28 poses a risk to the negotiation process as well as the whole conference itself,” said the note, which was shared exclusively with POLITICO.
“To help ensure that COP 28 is a serious and productive climate summit, we believe the United States should urge the United Arab Emirates to name a different lead for COP 28 or, at a minimum, seek assurances that it will promote an ambitious COP 28 aligned with the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit,” the lawmakers added.
Kerry — along with other climate diplomats, including the EU’s Frans Timmermans — has repeatedly defended Al Jaber’s appointment in recent weeks, calling him a “terrific choice” in an interview with the Associated Press. Kerry also said ADNOC understood the need to shift its business away from fossil fuels. Kerry’s office was not immediately available to comment on the letter.
A COP28 spokesperson, who had not seen the letter, defended Al Jaber’s record “as a diplomat, minister, and business leader across the energy and renewables industry.” They highlighted his role as founder of renewables company Masdar, calling it “one of the world’s largest renewable energy company with clean energy investments in over 40 countries.”
“His experience uniquely positions him to be able to convene both the public and private sector to bring about pragmatic solutions to achieve the goals and aspirations of the Paris Climate Agreement,” the spokesperson said.
But the U.S. lawmakers noted the long history of fossil fuel industry interference in climate talks.

“Having a fossil fuel champion in charge of the world’s most important climate negotiations would be like having the CEO of a cigarette conglomerate in charge of global tobacco policy. It risks undermining the very essence of what is trying to be accomplished,” they wrote.

[ad_2]
#lawmakers #press #remove #oil #boss #leading #COP28 #climate #talks
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023