South East Asia

India has stressed on deeper engagement and commitment by the UN Security Council to ensure long-lasting peace in countries torn by civil war and to avoid relapse into conflict. In an an Ambassadorial-level meeting of Organisational Committee, Peacebuilding Commission here yesterday, Deputy Permanent Representative of India Ambassador Bhagwant Bishnoi said …

US President Barack Obama has nominated veteran diplomat David Hale as the next ambassador to Pakistan. A career foreign service official, Hale is currently the US Ambassador to Lebanon, a position he has held since 2013. Obama named him for the post yesterday and if confirmed by the Senate, Hale …

In a meeting with Nasir Ahmad Durrani, the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister, Jean-Michel Marlaud, the French ambassador to Afghanistan said that his country has a long standing relationship with Afghanistan and will continue to help the Afghans by fully cooperating with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation (MRRD) in their …

Pakistan on Monday conducted a successful test launch of Shaheen-III Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile, capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 2,750 Kilometers, the military said. According to a press release by Pakistan military’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the test launch was aimed at validating various …

Pakistan will hold dialogue with India on all issues including the longstanding Kashmir dispute, National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz said today ahead of the Foreign Secretary-level talks next week. Talking to Radio Pakistan in Lahore, Aziz said that India cancelled Foreign Secretary level talks last year and now it took …

Jammu and Kashmir’s new ruling coalition sworn in on Sunday has nudged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resume talks with Pakistan and Kashmiri stakeholders, including the Hurriyat Conference. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Kashmir’s People’s Democratic Party nominated 11 and 12 ministers respectively who took the oath of …

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drain and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar appear to have sorted out one of the key issues holding up the estimated $15 billion deal to buy 126 Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. A final decision is expected to be taken before Prime …

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on Tuesday to salvage a deal to supply 126 Dassault fighter jets that has stalled on the issue of local assembly of the aircraft. Under the terms of the contract, 18 of the Rafale planes will be sold ready …

India and the US have held their first ever bilateral dialogue on the UN and multilateral issues in the spirit of the “Delhi Declaration of Friendship” that strengthens and expands the two countries’ relationship. “Today’s discussions focused on international peace and security, peacekeeping operations, counter-piracy, the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed yesterday to end India’s status as the world’s number one defense importer, saying he wanted 70 percent of hardware to be manufactured domestically by the turn of the decade. Speaking at the start of a major aviation industry conference, Modi told hundreds of foreign and …