World Organisations – Pacts and Summits
India Hosts 2nd BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministerial Meeting
- India hosted the 2nd Agriculture Ministerial-level meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in New Delhi.
- The Action Plan for Strengthening BIMSTEC Agricultural Cooperation (2023–2027) was adopted at the 2nd BIMSTEC Agriculture Ministerial Meeting.
About BIMSTEC
- Formation – 1997 (Bangkok Declaration)
- Members (7) – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.
- BIMSTEC Secretariat is situated in Dhaka, Bangladesh
19th ASEAN-India Summit in Cambodia
- The Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar led the Indian delegation, including the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, at the 19th ASEAN-India Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
- At the summit, ASEAN and India adopted a joint statement announcing the elevation of the existing Strategic Partnership to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
- Both sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the Indo-Pacific region.
- The Joint Statement also reiterated the commitment to enhance India-ASEAN cooperation in various areas such as maritime activities, counter-terrorism, transnational crimes, cyber security, digital economy, regional connectivity, smart agriculture, environment, science & technology, tourism, among other areas.
- The Joint Statement also proposes expediting the review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) to make it more user-friendly, simple, and trade-facilitative.
Awards and Honour
Nobel Laureate Venki Ramakrishnan Awarded UK’s Royal Order Of Merit
- India-born Nobel laureate Professor Venki Ramakrishnan has been awarded the prestigious Order of Merit by Britain’s King Charles III in recognition of his distinguished service to science.
- The 70-year-old UK-based molecular biologist is among six appointments made to the historic order by the late Queen Elizabeth II before her death in September and the first to be appointed by Charles.
- The Order of Merit is an exclusive mark of honour conferred by the British sovereign.
- He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on ribosomal structure and was knighted by the Queen in 2012. He was President of the UK’s Royal Society from November 2015 until November 2020.
Note
- The Order of Merit, founded in 1902 by King Edward VII, is conferred on individuals of exceptional distinction in the armed forces, science, arts, and literature, or for the promotion of culture based on the personal choice of the monarch.
- Professor Venki was born in Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu and studied biology in the US before moving to the UK where he is the Group Leader of the leading research hub MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar awarded Gandhi Peace Pilgrim award
- Indian spiritual leader and the founder of Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was presented with the Gandhi Peace Pilgrimage award at Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Centre in Atlanta in recognition of his tireless efforts to spread the messages of peace and non-violence as espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
- The award was presented to him for his outstanding service and contribution for humanity to bring the change we want to see in the world.
Appointments – Who is who?
Greg Barclay re-elected as ICC chairman
- Greg Barclay has been re-elected unopposed as the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC)
- Barclay, an Auckland-based commercial lawyer, was originally appointed as the ICC Chair in November 2020. He was previously the Chair of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and was a director of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2015.
- Jay Shah from India was elected as the head of the powerful Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee.
About ICC
- The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 and later the name was changed as International Cricket Council in 1987. The ICC has its headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
