RAISINA DIALOGUE: Ind-Fin MoU; Russia on India’s UNSC membership and Indo-Pacific

The Raisina Dialogue was held at New Delhi for four days recently. Leaders from several countries participated in the dialogue. It included foreign ministers from 13 countries including Iran, Australia and Russia. During the Raisina Dialogue, India and Finland signed a defence agreement. Also, Russia announced that it supports India for the latter’s permanent membership at the UNSC (United Nations Security Council)

Russia at Raisina Dialogue

Indo-Pacific

Russia at the Raisina Dialogue questioned the idea of “Indo-Pacific”. It said that the concept of Indo-Pacific is divisive. Russia also believes that the concept of Indo-Pacific isolates China and also aims to move away from ASEAN centred building model.

UNSC Membership

Russia at the Raisina Dialogue also announced that it backs India for the latter’s permanent UNSC membership. Along with India, Brazil is also seeking permanent membership from UNSC. Russia extended its support to Brazil as well.

India-Finland

On the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue, India and Finland signed a Defence MoU. The agreement aimed to increase cooperation between the countries in terms of procurement, production, R&D of Defence related equipment. The agreement was under discussion between the countries since DefExpo 2018. It has now been formalized to run up to DefExpo 2020. The talks for the agreement was initiated by PM Modi at the first India-Nordic Summit held at Stockholm.

India-Nordic Summit

The Nordic countries are the countries in Northern Europe and North Atlantic. It mainly includes Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Norway. At the India-Nordic Summit, the areas of economic growth, global security, climate change and innovation were focused.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2020