APRIL

CONFERENCES

Ø  Inter-Korean Summit: Kim Jong Un crosses over to South Korea for first time

Ø  In a historic first, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed the border that separates the two Koreas at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) to enter South Korea, becoming the first North Korean leader to step into South Korean territory since 1953.

Ø  15th SCO Defence Ministers meeting held in Beijing

Ø  India is participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers Meeting for the first time. The 15th SCO Defence Ministers Meeting was held at Beijing in China. Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted India’s keen interest in developing an expanded partnership with the broader Eurasian region.

Ø  India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 held in New Delhi

Ø  The India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 was held from April 16-17, 2018, in New Delhi.The title of conference was ‘Securing Global Supply Chains through Government-Industry Partnerships towards Effective Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1540’.

Ø  India hosts 16th International Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting

Ø  India, world’s third-largest energy consumer after US and China hosted 16th International Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting from 10-12th April 2018 in New Delhi. This is second time India hosting IEF Ministerial meeting.

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Ø  First Meeting of the ‘NITI Forum for North East’ held in Agartala

Ø  The first meeting of the newly constituted ‘NITI Forum for North East’ was held in Agartala, Tripura. The meeting was organized by the NITI Aayog, Ministry of DoNER and the North Eastern Council (NEC).

Ø  First International conference on Water, Environment held in Kathmandu

Ø  The first international conference on ‘Water, Environment and Climate Change: Knowledge Sharing and Partnership’ was inaugurated in Kathmandu, Nepal. Nepal’s Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun stressed upon the need of water security and said that it should be given the top priority.

Ø  Turkey hosts Critical Summit on Syria War with Russia and Iran

Ø  The presidents of Iran, Turkey, and Russia met for their second tripartite summit in under six months, aiming to speed the peace process for Syria and bolster their influence in the country.

Ø  India-Japan-US Trilateral Talks held in New Delhi

Ø  The crucial dialogue between the three leading democratic powers (viz. India, Japan and the USA) of the Indo-Pacific region was held in New Delhi. It comes a fortnight ahead of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida.

Ø  Indus Commission meet commenced in Delhi

Ø  India & Pakistan held the meeting on Indus water treaty. This will be the 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) that looks into the sharing of the waters of the Indus since the treaty was signed by the two countries in 1960. The Indus water treaty covers the water distribution and sharing rights of six rivers—Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.