Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will accompany Prime Minister Narendra Modi to London for the signing of the free trade agreement between India and the UK on July 24, an official said on Monday. The two countries announced the conclusion of the negotiations for the trade agreement on May 6.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have signed a 'Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement', pledging that any aggression against either nation would be treated as an attack on both.
Following the disengagement, both sides will soon start the coordinated patrolling in their respective areas, sources added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Japan and China to further national interests and build cooperation for regional and global peace.
'I do believe there will be a resolution in the next couple of months on the penal tariff and hopefully on the reciprocal tariff also.'
Prime Minister Modi held separate talks with world leaders including his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, discussing various facets of bilateral ties and reaffirmed India's support for the Palestinian people.
United States President Donald Trump is set to engage in high-stakes bilateral meetings on Thursday, including a closed-door session with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Oval Office, according to Trump's public schedule released by the White House.
In a post on X on Saturday, Zelenskyy revealed that he and Trump had held a "long and substantive" call, beginning with one-on-one talks and later including European leaders in a broader discussion, where Trump briefed him on his recent meeting with Putin.
India and China on Monday decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as the two sides agreed to take certain people-centric steps to 'stabilise and rebuild' ties.
'Trump is not shy when he is frustrated with countries'
China and India have made 'positive progress' to resolve the border standoff, with both sides maintaining close communication through diplomatic and military channels, a senior foreign ministry official said in Beijing on Friday.
'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.'
The MEA said at Lumbini, the prime minister will visit the sacred Mayadevi temple to offer prayers.
'What we need to watch is how Saudi Arabia's financial assistance will be used by Pakistan. If the funds go to build their military hardware and operations, it should worry us.'
Officials said the government-to-government engagement between the two countries on all other issues remains normal, but conceded rough spots over trade that need ironing out.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday conveyed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict and that the way to peace is through 'dialogue and diplomacy'.
India and China are expected to discuss new confidence-building measures for durable peace and tranquillity along their contested border during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's two-day visit to India. The visit is seen as an effort to rebuild relations after the Galwan Valley clashes.
China said that "sound and stable ties" serve the common interests of China and India.
'We have incredible cards, but I don't want to play those cards.' 'If I play those cards, that would destroy China.'
Trump has made clear his intention to mediate a resolution between the two nations, emphasising the need for a swift de-escalation of violence.
Social media feeds and immigration forums lit up with questions from workers and families who feared they might be stranded abroad, unable to return to their jobs or reunite with loved ones.
India and China have agreed to rebuild ties and resume people-to-people exchanges, including resuming direct flights and the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year. The two countries also discussed the resumption of dialogue mechanisms to address each other's concerns and move relations to a more stable path. The meeting comes after a period of strained relations following the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
India and Canada have agreed to restore High Commissioners to each other's capitals at an early date, the first in 'calibrated steps' to restore stability to the 'very important relationship', Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.
The era where nations thrived through rigid alignments is giving way to an age where the connective State defines power. For India, that era has arrived, points out Dr Nishakant Ojha.
'As one former Indian diplomat put it to me, Delhi has access to the White House, but Islamabad has access to Mar-a-Lago.'
Brave statements such as we will continue to be the fastest growing large country are of no consolation, because the direction of trade also determines the flow of investment, points out M Govinda Rao.
New Delhi, while opting not to retaliate yet to the American tariffs, has in recent weeks sought to reinforce its friendship with Moscow, and recalibrate its ties with Beijing rather than surrender to Washington's diktats.
'The touchstone is reciprocity which will be applied to friends and foes alike.' 'It will be a bitter pill to swallow.'
Chinese envoy Xu Feihong stated that China opposes the US imposing tariffs on India, amidst a thaw in Sino-India relations and concerns over global trade disruptions.
Former World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu on Thursday said the US economic policy towards India has taken an unfortunate turn, noting that President Donald Trump's harsh stance against New Delhi appears baffling. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods from August 1, amid signs of a stalemate in the ongoing bilateral trade negotiations between the two countries.
India and the US desire to give preferential market access to each other's businesses and teams of both the countries are working together on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said. In February, US President Donald J Trump and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced plans to negotiate the first tranche or phase of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall (September-October) of 2025.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to take part in the India-China Special Representatives' talks to be held on Wednesday aimed at restoring the bilateral ties stalled for over four years' due to the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
India and China on Wednesday held 'constructive' and 'forward-looking' diplomatic talks to resolve the over four-year border standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh but there was clear no indication of any breakthrough.
US President Donald Trump has announced a 25 per cent plus tariff on India from Aug 1. Trump, describing India as a "friend", said the US has done relatively "little business" with the country because of its high tariffs.
The United States action of levying 25 per cent additional tariff on Indian goods is 'unfair, unjustified and unreasonable', India said on Wednesday in a firm reaction, signalling increasing tensions between the two strategic partners over New Delhi's energy ties with Moscow.
The Israel-Iran conflict has entered a 'decisive phase' after the United States bombed three major Iranian nuclear sites Sunday morning, feel strategic affairs experts with some of them arguing it was Washington, DC's 'responsibility' to not get involved in the military standoff.
Canada's Liberal Party has revoked Indian-origin MP Chandra Arya's bid to run for the party leadership and his nomination in his own Ottawa Nepean constituency over alleged ties to the Indian government. Citing a source with top-secret clearance, the Globe and Mail daily reported that Arya, who visited India last August and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had not informed the government of that trip even though bilateral relations are in a deep freeze. The Liberals have never revealed why they barred the three-term Liberal MP from the party's recent leadership race or from running again in Nepean constituency. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service had briefed the government about Arya's "alleged close ties to the government of India, including its High Commission in Ottawa". Arya has rejected the allegations and believes he was removed because of his stance against the Sikh Khalistani movement in Canada.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met in New York and reviewed bilateral relations across "a gamut of items of cooperation." "It was a "good meeting," Rice said.
The problem in holding talks with Pakistan is not the language but finding a common vision for decency and peace, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday, stressing that New Delhi can engage in dialogue with Islamabad if it takes significant action against the infrastructure of terrorism that is visible everywhere in the country.
