COUNTRY REVIEWS

South Asia

Bangladesh

(FEBRUARY 3-9)

• Sector commander level border coordination meeting held between the BSF and the BGB; The BNP adopts a resolution against Hasina government; The Commonwealth calls for a purposeful dialogue between the major political parties in Bangladesh; The International Crimes Tribunal-2 indicted Syed Mohammad Qaisar; India decides to extend visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from Bangladesh; Remittances declined; Increase in the current account surplus and the inflation.

Sri Lanka

(FEBRUARY 3-9)

• Resolution on Sri Lanka has been presented to the US Congress; Prof. Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris: “Government will not allow external forces to use human rights as a political weapon to oust the government”; United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Chair, United Nations Development Group Asia-Pacific and UNDP Assistant Administrator & Director visit Sri Lanka; The United States Pacific Army's fourth Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) team concludes its training program in Vavuniya; Russia assures its full support to Sri Lanka.

Maldives

(FEBRUARY 3-9)

• Maldives Chief of Defence Force Major General Ahmed Shiyam visits India; Vice President visits Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia; Maldives’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon made a one-day working visit to Kuala Lumpur; Justice Minister of Iran criticised the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights; Ambassador at large Abdulla Hameed attends the 14th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit

CENTRAL ASIA & RUSSIA

Russia

(FEBRUARY 3-9)

• Russia and South Korea hold consultations on Arctic cooperation; Russia and US discuss the Syrian situation ahead of the 2nd round of Geneva talks, Foreign Minister Lavrov meets with the chief of Syrian National Coalition; President Putin meets with his Chinese counterpart in Sochi; Putin to visit China twice in 2014; Russia to provide modern weapons to Kyrgyzstan; Russia to buy Kyrgyzstan’s gas company in exchange for guaranteed supply of natural gas; Russia and Kyrgyzstan discuss prospects of Kyrgyzstan’s involvement in Eurasian integration; Russia is the world’s third largest military spender; Armenia publishes an accession road map for entry into the Customs Union; Russia approves the handover of two military townships to Russian military base in Armenia; President Putin meets with his Ukrainian counterpart in Sochi; European Union offers financial aid to Ukraine in exchange for economic and political reforms; Hungarian parliament endorses agreement with Russia on construction of two nuclear reactors; Russia and Tajikistan agree to prolong the presence of Russian military base in Tajikistan; Russia to give US$ 862,000 aid to Tajikistan to combat drug-trafficking; Russia and Spain discuss prospects of energy cooperation; Russia and Georgia resume direct passenger flights; Medvedev signs a decree creating United Aerospace Corporation; Russia’s capital outflow in January stood at US$ 17 billion.

(FEBRUARY 10-16)

• Russia to veto Syria aid resolution in its current form; Russia offers a new resolution on Syria to UN; Russia accuses US of manipulation over Syrian resolution; Russia laments the unchanged line up of Syrian opposition in Geneva; Russia and Egypt reach an initial US$ 3 billion weapons agreement; Iran ready to step up economic cooperation with Russia; Russia expects Ukraine to integrate with Eurasian Union; Russia forecasts an increase in its oil and gas output in 2014; Russia to continue helicopter supply to Afghanistan under a US contract; Russia to help Kyrgyzstan join Customs Union; Russia rejects US practice of broadening anti-Iran sanctions list; Russia and Israel seek to expand and diversify cooperation; Russia delivers missile systems to Libya; Russian and Eritrean Foreign Ministers discuss international and regional problems; Japan to support LNG projects in Russia’s Far East; Russian and Norwegian Prime Ministers discuss bilateral cooperation; Russian and German Foreign Ministers meet; Russia and Germany urge Ukraine to settle political crisis on its own; Russia welcomes inter-Korean talks; Russian and Algerian Foreign Ministers meet in Moscow; Russia and Greece to continue strategic partnership in energy; An international mine center will be established in Moscow; President Putin has declared that hydrocarbons can no longer drive economic growth in Russia; Duma rejects bill to lower parliamentary election barrier from 5 to 3 per cent; Russia remains Belarus’s key trade partner in 2013; Russia-China trade volume increased by 17 per cent in 2013; Russia has supplied the first batch of Mi-17B-5 helicopters to India.

DEFENCE REVIEW

National

(FEBRUARY 3-9)

• GoM suggests India Gate as the location for the construction of the national war memorial in Delhi; Biennial naval exercise MILAN 2014 concludes at Port Blair

(FEBRUARY 10-16)

• All three services suffer from shortage of manpower; Three cases of spying have been reported during the last two years: Defence Minister

(FEBRUARY 17-23)

• Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signs a contract for the supply of three Hull Mounted Sonars with Myanmar; Incidents of firing on India-Pakistan border intensified over the years

(FEBRUARY 24-MARCH 2)

• 6th annual Defence and Security Dialogue between India and China held in New Delhi; Indigenously developed Surface to Air missile Akash successfully flight tested

International

(FEBRUARY 3-9)

• U.S. DoD report identifies hundreds of cyber security vulnerabilities; Boeing delivers an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to Turkey after several years of delay

FEBRUARY 10-16

• Israel unveils its Super Heron UAV at the Singapore Air Show

(FEBRUARY 17-23)

• US Army Chief advices China and Japan to enhance communication to avoid miscalculations; Reports: Germany’s defense ministry is planning to reduce its order for Eurofighter jets

(FEBRUARY 24-MARCH 2)

• China building strategic presence in Israel through a growing portfolio of holdings in national infrastructure and core industries; NATO chief urges Russia to stop its military activity against Ukraine