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International Current Affairs July 3rd Week 2019
Category : International Current Affairs
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First Global Conference for Media Freedom held in London:

  • First Global Conference for Media Freedom 2019, hosted by the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, was held on July 10-11, 2019 in London, UK. 
  • It is co-hosted by Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Jeremy Hunt, the UK Foreign Secretary. 
  • The conference is structured around 4 themes
  • The four themes are protection and prosecution, including impunity, national frameworks and legislation, building trust in media and countering disinformation and media sustainability.
  • Indian delegation led by Prasar Bharati Chairman Surya Prakash.
  • The UK government committed 18 million pounds .
  • Their main aim is to improve media freedom across the world.
  • They announced the creation of a new Global Media Defence Fund.
  • The new Global Media Defence Fund, administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will support, train and provide legal support to journalists in the most dangerous parts of the world.
  • The UK will provide 3 million pounds and Canada will provide Canadian Dollar 1 million contribution to the new fund.
  • From the UK’s Department for International Development Fund, a 15 million pounds Protecting Media Freedom programme will help to tackle the root causes of the global crisis in independent media.

AIIB provides $100 million to L&T Finance arm for wind and solar infrastructure projects:

  • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) provide $100-million loan to L&T(Larsen & Toubro) Infrastructure Finance Company(LTIF) for wind and solar infrastructure projects. This is the first time AIIB is extending loan to a non-banking finance company(NBFC).
  • It is collaborated with AIIB to explore the international market for green finance.
  • The project mainly help to increase the supply of renewable energy in India. 
  • It helps to reduce the carbon intensity by 30-35 percent of the 2005 levels by 2030 which was India’s commitment under the Paris agreement.
  • India set a target to install 175 Gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022, of which a total of 80.04 GW of renewable energy capacity installed in the country till May 2019.

The city of Fuzhou (China) will host the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee in 2020:

On July 9,2019, In the event of 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee meeting 2019 in Baku, Azerbaijan( June 30 to July 10,2019), the UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) announced that the Chinese city of Fuzhou will host the 44th  session of the World Heritage Committee in 2020.

Key points:
i. Tian Xuejun, Chinese Vice Minister of Education was elected as chairman of the 44th  session of the committee. The chairman of the 43rd session was Abulfas Garayev.
ii. During the meeting, the committee inscribed a total of 29 new sites on the World Heritage List (one in Africa, 2 in the Arab States, 10 in the Asia Pacific region, 15 in Europe and North America and one in Latin America).
iii. The pink city or Walled City of Jaipur of Rajasthan also featured in the prestigious list, which now features 1,121 sites in 167 countries.
iv. Addition &Removal: The sites of Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Chile and Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem, Palestine has been removed & The Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California, Mexico added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.
v. Dilmun Burial Mounds (Bahrain), the ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso and the iconic site of Babylon (Iraq), the centre of the neo-Babylonian Empire and the site of the Hanging Gardens(Iraq), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were also added in the list.

India, Italy to set up fast-track mechanism to facilitate investment:

  • A fast-track system made by the companies and investors of India.
  • Italy decides to make investment proposals in both countries.
  • The main aim is to facilitate Italian companies and investors in India.
  • Indian companies and investors in Italy decided to establish a fast-track system for companies and investors of both countries.
  • The key objectives of the system in India to pave the way to identify and solve problems faced by Italian companies and investors with their operations in India. 
  • They serve as a platform for discussing general suggestions from the point of view of Italian companies and investors. 
  • The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the ministry, will represent the Indian side in this system. 
  • The department will facilitate the participation of other relevant ministries and authorities on a case by case basis. 
  • The Italian Embassy in India in close cooperation with the Italian Trade Agency and relevant Ministries in Italy will represent the Italian side of this system in India.

About Italian Trade Agency:

 

  • Italian Trade Agency is responsible agency to pursue and monitor individual cases. 
  • They will be constantly reviewed by Ministry of Economic Development, Italy.
  • The Indian Embassy in Italy in close cooperation with DPIIT and the relevant Ministries in India will represent the Indian side of this system in Italy.
  • A continuous updated list of relevant concerns of Indian companies and investors in Italy will be prepared by the Indian Embassy and form the basis of the fast – track system in Italy.
  • The fast-track system will be reviewed twice a year at the level of Director General for Internationalization and Trade Promotion, Ministry of Economic Development, Italy and Indian Ambassador in Italy. 
  • The Indian Embassy and Ministry of Economic Development, Italy will meet on the working level at shorter intervals as and when required to review the progress achieved.

Palau became the 76th country to sign the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement:

The Republic of Palau, an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean has signed International Solar Alliance Framework agreement to become a 76th country that joined the International Solar Alliance(ISA). It was signed by Palau President Tommy Remengesau during a special ceremony at Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations (UN). 

ISA Framework Agreement has been ratified by a total of 54 of the 76 countries till now.

Key points:

i.  Palau is a host country for 2020 edition of the ‘Our Oceans conference’. This will focus on issues such as climate change, sustainable fisheries, and marine pollution.

About International Solar Alliance (ISA):

i. It was jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi) and France’s President Francois Hollande in November 2015 on sidelines of COP-21(conference of the parties) of UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Paris.

ii. It was officially established on 6 December 2017 headquartered at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gurugram, Haryana.

iii. It is a major global initiative for contributing to the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement through rapid and massive deployment of solar energy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Objective: To undertake innovative efforts for reducing the cost of finance and deployment of solar generation, Mobilise more than the US $1000 billion of investments by 2030 and to accelerate development and deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity in member countries.