Country Financial News

G20 Summit meet on Sunday. “Our Indian friends said they would propose promising areas they can be invested in," Lavrov told reporters, citing talks with Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the side lines of the East Asia summit prior to his arrival to India. “Right now our governments are talking how to use and invest them to mutual benefit.", Bloomberg quoted Russia's Foreign Minister.

New Delhi: India’s presidency of G20 or the Group of 20 has been able to bring all member countries to the table on the issue of war in Ukraine and brought to the fore the voice of the emerging markets as moderators, said foreign policy experts, highlighting the country's heritage as the voice of reason. The New Delhi Declaration issued on the first day of the two-day G20 Summit set the direction of future negotiations on important economic issues including climate financing which has for the first time put $5.9 trillion number to the green financing requirements for developing countries, reforms in multilateral banks, international taxation and sustainable development.

Narendra Modi on Sunday urged world leaders at the G20 leaders' summit to make global structure, including the UN Security Council, reflective of current realities. Speaking at a summit session, Modi staked a claim for India’s permanent membership at the UNSC and cautioned that individuals and institutions that do not adapt to change lose their relevance over time. The five permanent UN members with veto power in the organisation are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China.

G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi has garnered widespread acclaim from global experts, with John Kirton, the Director of the G20 Research Group, hailing it as a «significant step forward in global governance.» Kirton's remarks come as the international community reflects on the summit's outcomes and implications for global diplomacy and cooperation. In an analysis of the New Delhi Declaration, Kirton emphasized that the G-20, representing the world's major economies, has taken on a pivotal role in shaping global governance. The declaration's breadth of coverage, spanning a wide spectrum of global issues, demonstrates the G20's growing influence and capacity to address multifaceted challenges. John Kirton said, «I think it is a significant step forward in global governance.

World Trade Organization will have a tough task ahead to make WTO's dispute settlement system fully functional by 2024 due to divergent approaches proposed by countries like China, and the European Union, experts say. On September 9, G20 leaders expressed their commitment to conducting discussions for having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system of WTO by 2024. Besides formulating norms for global exports and imports, the Geneva-based 164-member multi-lateral body adjudicates trade disputes among the member countries. The dispute settlement mechanism of WTO has been derailed due to a non-functional appellate body since December 2019. «We reiterate the need to pursue WTO reform to improve all its functions through an inclusive member-driven process, and remain committed to conducting discussions with a view to having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024, » the G20 declaration has said. Trade experts said that all the members would have to work together to achieve this 2024 goal. «G20 members have agreed to pursue WTO reforms, specifically aiming for a functional dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024.

India's external debt of USD 624.7 billion at March-end 2023 with a debt-service ratio of 5.3 per cent is within the comfort zone and modest from a cross-country perspective, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said. In her foreword to 'India's External Debt: A Status Report 2022-23' released earlier this month, Sitharaman said the ratio of external debt to GDP declined to 18.9 per cent at March-end 2022-23 from 20 per cent a year ago. The long-term debt constituted 79.4 per cent of total external debt, while short-term debt, which is 20.6 per cent of the total external borrowing, is basically incurred to finance imports, enhancing the stability aspects of the total external debt, she said. «From a cross-country perspective, India's external debt position is better than most of the Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) as measured by select vulnerability indicators, such as share of short-term debt in total external debt, external debt to GNI (Gross National Income), forex reserves to external debt and external debt to exports,» the minister noted. The report said the debt service ratio during 2022-23 has increased marginally to 5.3 per cent from 5.2 per cent during the previous year, mainly due to a rise in debt service payments from USD 41.6 billion in 2021-22 to USD 49.2 billion in 2022-23. The 'debt service ratio' is measured by the proportion of 'gross debt service payments' (both principal and interest) to 'external current receipts', which indicates the extent of pre-emption of forex reserves for the purposes of repayment of principal and interest out of the stock of foreign debt. The increase in gross external debt service payments during 2022-23 was due to the combined impact of an increase in debt service

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted his country as well-placed to bridge gaps in the Group of 20 top economies and solve global problems

Afghanistan is now the world's fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine

Egypt’s annual inflation rate has hit a new record high in August, as the cash-strapped country continues to battle price hikes and a depreciating currency

Voters in a southern Swiss region are casting their ballots to decide whether to allow large solar parks on their sun-baked Alpine mountainsides as part of the federal government’s push to develop renewable energies

Giorgia Meloni, reportedly on Saturday, privately signalled to China's Premier Li Qiang that Italy is seeking to exit the Belts and Roads Initiative (BRI) agreement was signed four years ago. Earlier in July this year, Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has said that the BRI was an "improvised and atrocious" made by Italy while signing with China.

G20 Summit 2023: The G20 Summit has entered its final day today i.e. on 10 September. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold various meetings with eight global leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Comoros, Turkey, UAE, South Korea, etc.

G20 Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday proposed holding a virtual session in November this year to review the subjects proposed during the meeting. "India has the responsibility of G20 presidency till November. In these two days, you (world leaders) have expressed several views and put forward various proposals," Modi said.

Congress on Sunday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks on environment at the G20 Summit as «sheer hypocrisy», and claimed his "global talk" is completely at odds from the «local walk». Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused the Modi government of comprehensively dismantling India's environmental protections and snatching away the rights of the most vulnerable communities dependent on forests. «The PM's statements at the G20 and other summits globally are sheer hypocrisy.

New Delhi G20 declaration is a «major step forward in this effort», a senior US official said on Sunday. Principal Deputy National Security Advisor of the White House Jon Finer told the media on board Air Force One that the joint statement issued yesterday builds on the Bali G20 declaration and UN resolutions to send «an unprecedented unified statement on the imperative that Russia refrains from using force for territorial acquisition» and abide by UN charter. «The G20 Countries have signed up to the Bali language (declaration) last year and the vast majority of G20 countries have supported multiple UN resolutions that call out Russia's illegal aggression.

Jawan," Shah Rukh Khan's latest action-packed thriller, has arrived on the big screen and is already making ripples in the Bollywood world. Early forecasts indicate that this movie feast will smash box office records, setting new standards for blockbuster debuts. Directed by the talented Atlee and featuring an ensemble cast that includes SRK, Nayanthara, and Vijay Sethupathi, «Jawan» had been riding a wave of sky-high expectations ever since its announcement.

Netanyahu has described it as the «largest cooperation project in our history» that will «change the face of the Middle East, Israel, and will affect the entire world». The new economic corridor, which many see as an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative, was jointly announced on Saturday by the leaders of the US, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi. In a video message released late Saturday evening, Netanyahu said that Israel is at the focus of an unprecedented international project that will link infrastructure from Asia to Europe. «I welcome the statement that was released today by the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the European Union, as well as France, Italy and Germany,» Netanyahu said. «A good week to you, citizens of Israel.

G20 Summit entered its final day on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold various meetings with eight global leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Comoros, Turkey, UAE, South Korea, etc. “PM Modi to hold a working lunch meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron today. The PM will hold a pull-aside meeting with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and will later do bilateral meetings with Comoros, Turkey, UAE, South Korea, EU/EC, Brazil, and Nigeria," sources told ANI.

G20 Summit, which saw member nations soften their condemnation of Russia for its war in Ukraine. Unlike the 2022 Bali Declaration, the joint declaration in Delhi did not directly name and condemn Russia for its war in Ukraine. This approach has come in from criticism from some quarters.

Narendra Modi. PM Modi announced on Saturday that the leaders of G20 countries have reached a consensus on the New Delhi G20 Leaders Declaration.

ITC hotel sources informed news agency ANI. During the G20 Summit in India, the ITC hotel chains have taken a noteworthy culinary initiative by featuring a bouquet of vegetarian dishes crafted from millets, a group of highly nutritious grains. Two talented women chefs from ITC Sheraton New Delhi have curated a menu that boasts an impressive array of 20 millet-based dishes.