WASHINGTON: Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Friday that conditions were not yet right for ASEAN to open high-level talks with Myanmar on the country’s political situation.
“We believe it would be premature to re-engage with the junta at a summit level or even at a foreign minister level,” Balakrishnan said when asked about a news report that Thailand had proposed talks.
Speaking in a joint press conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Balakrishnan said the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had recently reaffirmed their stance.
“We condemned the coup, and the ongoing violence against civilians, the instability in the country, the setback to national reconciliation, and the enormous impact on the economy,” he said of the 2021 military takeover in Myanmar.
“Unfortunately, it’s now more than two years. We haven’t seen any signs of improvement.”
Balakrishnan did not reject all engagement with the Myanmar junta.
“The key point is this. You do need everyone ultimately to sit down and negotiate,” he said.
“I don’t know how long it will take. The last time it took 25 years for some form of democratic transition to occur in Myanmar. I hope it won’t take that long.”
Blinken said the United States backs ASEAN efforts to resolve the crisis.
“It’s very important that we continue, all of us, to sustain the appropriate pressure on the junta and look for ways of course to engage the opposition” in Myanmar, he said.
Thailand has proposed to host an informal ministerial meeting of some ASEAN members with Myanmar on Sunday and Monday.
“It is time for ASEAN to fully re-engage Myanmar at the leaders’ level,” according to a Thai government letter, seen by AFP.
“In consideration of several pressing factors, the time for dialogues is sooner rather than later.”
A Myanmar junta spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
A Southeast Asian official familiar with the matter told AFP on condition of anonymity that Malaysia would not attend the proposed meeting.
But the Cambodian government said its foreign minister will attend the two-day informal discussions in Bangkok.
The meeting will focus on advancing ASEAN’s five-point peace plan agreed with Myanmar two years ago, Cambodia’s foreign ministry said.
ASEAN’s last summit, held in May, ended without any significant progress on that peace plan, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo warning that the bloc risks becoming irrelevant.
More than 6,000 civilians have been killed in Myanmar since the February 2021 coup, the Peace Research Institute of Oslo said in a report published Tuesday.
Singapore says ‘premature’ for ASEAN talks with Myanmar
https://arab.news/8j7zx
Singapore says ‘premature’ for ASEAN talks with Myanmar
- ‘Unfortunately, it’s now more than two years. We haven’t seen any signs of improvement’
- Thailand has proposed to host an informal ministerial meeting of some ASEAN members with Myanmar
Indian women entrepreneurs to visit UAE to study AI governance, medical innovation
- Delegation will attend panel discussions, networking opportunities with UAE industry leaders in Dubai
- India, UAE have witnessed significant rise in bilateral exchanges since signing free trade pact in 2022
NEW DELHI: Dozens of women entrepreneurs from the Indian Women Network of the Confederation of Indian Industry will depart to the UAE next week to study AI governance in education and medical innovation.
IWN was launched in 2013 by India’s largest and oldest industrial body, the CII, to create the largest network for professional women and promote their participation, growth and leadership in the workplace. Today, it has established chapters in almost two dozen Indian states.
For its first international trip, IWN will lead a 35-member delegation comprising women entrepreneurs from various sectors of Indian industries for a two-day visit to the UAE’s commercial capital, Dubai, starting Nov. 4.
“Dubai was chosen as the destination because of its progressive strides in areas such as AI governance in education, medical innovation, R&D and women’s empowerment,” Megha Chopra, co-chair of CII’s IWN chapter in New Delhi, told Arab News on Thursday.
“The delegation will explore how Dubai has successfully implemented forward-thinking strategies in these sectors, drawing valuable insights to inspire similar growth and innovation in India.”
The trip, which also includes panel discussions and networking opportunities, aims to “foster knowledge-sharing, networking and leadership development” as well as making connections with UAE-based industry pioneers, she added.
For Chopra, executive director at software company RateGain Travel Technologies, the learning retreat is an important extension of the India-UAE economic partnership.
“This trip also highlights the significance of women’s roles in enhancing bilateral ties and contributing to economic progress, with IWN creating a platform where Indian women entrepreneurs can not only draw inspiration, but also forge connections that could lead to tangible business partnerships and investments,” she said.
India and the UAE have significantly advanced bilateral exchanges since they signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in 2022.
The UAE is the largest Middle Eastern investor in India, with investments amounting to about $3 billion in the financial year 2023-24, according to Indian government data.
The two countries also expect to increase the total value of bilateral trade in non-petroleum products to more than $100 billion and trade in services to $15 billion by 2030.
“By connecting 35 women entrepreneurs from diverse Indian industries with eminent leaders and disruptors in Dubai, the delegation fosters knowledge exchange and cultivates potential avenues for cross-border collaborations,” Chopra said.
“In essence, the IWN delegation strengthens the India-UAE economic bond, championing women’s leadership as a key driver of continued growth and collaboration between the two nations.”
Taliban FM goes viral riding motorcycle through Kabul
- Amir Khan Muttaqi filmed on a motorbike in Wazir Akbar Khan area
- Kabul residents admit that public safety has been increasing in the city
Kabul: A video of Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister riding a motorcycle through Kabul has gone viral on social media, with people saying it showed improving security under Taliban rule.
Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to Arab News that the video shot this week shows Amir Khan Muttaqi riding after sunset in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of the Afghan capital.
The street where Muttaqi was driving is less than 1 km away from the Arg — the presidential palace, which since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan three years ago has served as the meeting place of the country’s interim government.
The surrounding neighborhood was known as the diplomatic zone of Kabul before most representatives of the international community left the country after its Western-backed government collapsed and US-led troops withdrew in August 2021.
The sighting of a minister riding on the street was for some residents a reflection of the country being safer now than during the two-decade period of foreign military presence following the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
“The security is very good now. The security forces are trying day and night to make sure people live in peace without any fear,” Hamza Kawsar, a resident of Kabul, told Arab News on Thursday.
“Unlike the leaders in previous regimes, our current leaders are not hiding from the people. They live a simple life. The foreign minister’s move to come out alone is proof of this.”
While people generally acknowledged that security had improved, many other pending issues were left unaddressed or aggravated.
“It’s been two weeks, and I can’t get my national ID. I go from one office to the other and my work is delayed,” said Rahmanullah, 22, who came from Logar province to Kabul to have his documents issued.
“It’s good that the ministers and other people are able to go around in the city without any worries. But in some offices it’s very difficult to see director-level officials, let alone a minister.”
For Javed Rahimi, a shopkeeper, the motorcycle video was a PR stunt and many new problems emerged with Taliban rule, including huge unemployment, poverty and bans on women’s education and work.
He admitted, however, that cases of theft, robbery, and deadly blasts, which were common before, had decreased.
“The good thing is that there’s no war and conflict anymore,” he said. “Our countrymen are not dying in explosions and attacks every day.”
Russia’s ‘comprehensive’ treaty with Iran will include defense, Lavrov says
- The United States accused Tehran in September of delivering close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine
Military ties between the two countries are a source of deep concern to the West as Russia wages war in Ukraine while Iran and Israel have exchanged missile and air strikes in the Middle East.
“The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations,” Lavrov told state television.
He said the agreement was being prepared for signing “in the near future.” Russia has said it expects Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian to visit Moscow before the end of the year.
“It will confirm the parties’ desire for closer cooperation in the field of defense and interaction in the interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels,” Lavrov said. He did not specify what form the defense ties would take.
Russia has deepened its ties with Iran and North Korea, which are both strongly antagonistic toward the United States, since the start of its war with Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a similarly titled “comprehensive” treaty in June, including a mutual defense clause, and the US and NATO say Pyongyang has sent some 10,000 soldiers to Russia for possible deployment in the war.
Russia has not denied their presence, and says it will implement the treaty as it sees fit.
The United States accused Tehran in September of delivering close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, and imposed sanctions on ships and companies it said were involved in delivering Iranian weapons.
Tehran denies providing Moscow with the missiles or with thousands of drones that Kyiv and Western officials have said Russia uses against military targets and to destroy civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s electrical grid.
The Kremlin declined to confirm its receipt of Iranian missiles but acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran included “the most sensitive areas.”
India says frontier disengagement with China along their disputed border is ‘almost complete’
- The two countries reached a new pact on military patrols that aims to end a four-year standoff that hss strained relations
- Ties between the two countries deteriorated in July 2020 after a military clash killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese
NEW DELHI: India and China have moved most of their frontline troops further from their disputed border in a remote region in the northern Himalayas, India’s defense minister said Thursday, some 10 days after the two countries reached a new pact on military patrols that aims to end a four-year standoff that’s strained relations.
Rajnath Singh said the “process of disengagement” of Indian and Chinese troops near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh is “almost complete.”
The Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. India and China fought a deadly war over the border in 1962.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated in July 2020 after a military clash killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. That turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, as each side stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets in close confrontation positions.
Earlier this month the two neighbors announced a border accord aimed at ending the standoff, followed by a meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the recent BRICS summit in Russia, their first bilateral meeting in five years.
It’s not clear how far back the troops were moved, or whether the pact will lead to an overall reduction in the number of soldiers deployed along the border.
“Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer,” Singh said.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said Thursday that the frontline troops were “making progress in implementing the resolutions in an orderly manner.”
The pact called for Indian and Chinese troops to pull back from the last two areas of the border where they were in close positions. After the deadly confrontation in 2020, soldiers were placed in what commanders called “eyeball to eyeball” positions at least six sites. Most were resolved after previous rounds of military and diplomatic talks as the two nations agreed to the creation of buffer zones.
However, disagreements over pulling back from in the Depsang and Demchok areas lasted until the Oct. 21 pact.
“It is a positive move,” said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, who from 2014 to 2016 headed Indian military’s Northern Command, which controls Kashmir region, including Ladakh. “Given how deep mistrust has been between the two countries and how all confidence building measures collapsed, it is quite a positive beginning,” he said.
However, Hooda added, it will take time for both countries to return to their pre-2020 positions. “It does not mean everything is going to as normal as it existed earlier. We have to re-establish traditional patrolling and also the buffer zones need to be sorted out,” he said.
The border standoff also damaged business ties between the two nations, as India halted investments from Chinese firms and major projects banned.
India says frontier disengagement with China along their disputed border is ‘almost complete’
- Two countries have reached new pact on military patrols that aims to end four-year standoff that has strained relations
- India says “process of disengagement” of Indian and Chinese troops near Line of Actual Control is “almost complete”
NEW DELHI: India and China have moved most of their frontline troops further from their disputed border in a remote region in the northern Himalayas, India’s defense minister said Thursday, some 10 days after the two countries reached a new pact on military patrols that aims to end a four-year standoff that’s strained relations.
Rajnath Singh said the “process of disengagement” of Indian and Chinese troops near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh is “almost complete.”
The Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety. India and China fought a deadly war over the border in 1962.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated in July 2020 after a military clash killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. That turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, as each side stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets in close confrontation positions.
Earlier this month the two neighbors announced a border accord aimed at ending the standoff, followed by a meeting between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the recent BRICS summit in Russia, their first bilateral meeting in five years.
It’s not clear how far back the troops were moved, or whether the pact will lead to an overall reduction in the number of soldiers deployed along the border.
“Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer,” Singh said.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said Thursday that the frontline troops were “making progress in implementing the resolutions in a orderly manner.”
The pact called for Indian and Chinese troops to pull back from the last two areas of the border where they were in close positions. After the deadly confrontation in 2020, soldiers were placed in what commanders called “eyeball to eyeball” positions at at least six sites. Most were resolved after previous rounds of military and diplomatic talks as the two nations agreed to the creation of buffer zones.
However, disagreements over pulling back from in the Depsang and Demchok areas lasted until the Oct. 21 pact.
“It is a positive move,” said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, who from 2014 to 2016 headed Indian military’s Northern Command, which controls Kashmir region, including Ladakh. “Given how deep mistrust has been between the two countries and how all confidence building measures collapsed, it is quite a positive beginning,” he said.
However, Hooda added, it will take time for both countries to return to their pre-2020 positions. “It does not mean everything is going to as normal as it existed earlier. We have to re-establish traditional patrolling and also the buffer zones need to be sorted out,” he said.
The border standoff also damaged business ties between the two nations, as India halted investments from Chinese firms and major projects banned.
