Diplomacy

It’s time for South Asia and the new government is resolutely pushing ahead with its “neighbours first” policy. The Bangladesh political elite is now looking with renewed hope at the new Modi government to free up India-Bangladesh ties from the vagaries of politics.

The talks will seek to revive the momentum that tapered off in the last two years of the Manmohan Singh government, largely due to the failure of the last regime in New Delhi to sign the Teesta water river sharing agreement and the ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement.

Amid the fluid and volatile situation in the conflict-stricken Gulf state, India has managed to evacuate 17 more Indians trapped in the zone of conflict in northern Iraq, which has been overrun by Sunni militants. In what is clearly the first overseas challenge facing the month-old Modi government, India is using all possible channels to secure the release of Indian hostages. “We have, with the help of local authorities, been able to evacuate 17 more of our nationals from the zone of conflict. They are now in Baghdad,” Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of India’s external affairs ministry, said in Delhi June 24.

A restrictive export control regime policy by 41 member of the Wassenaar Agreement could limit India’s access to much needed technology that secures its defences against cyber-attacks. In an agreement signed in January 41 members, mostly Western countries, agreed to changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement…

Against the backdrop of the escalating violence and the festering Shia-Sunni divide in Iraq, the US’s top diplomat has begun a series of meetings with the Iraqi leadership in Baghdad …