September 2011
India-Japan global partnership summit 2011 was held in Tokyo, Japan on 5-7 September 2011. To mark 10 years of the announcement of India-Japan Global Partnership Agreement, the India Center Foundation organized this summit. Apart from socio- cultural exchanges, this summit provided a platform for face-to-face discussion among the top business leaders, policy makers, opinion leaders and academicians from both nations. India Center Foundation is a non-partisan and not-for-profit organization working as a catalyst in nation building processes of India through its various socio-economic initiatives. India Japan Global Partnership is one of such initiatives.
India signed DTAA (Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement) with Estonia on 19 September 2011 and forged a pact to work with it in the field of information, communications and technology (ICT). The DTAA and the pact on ICT was signed during the visit of communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal to Estonia. Kapil signed the DTAA with Estonian Minister of Finance Jurgen Ligi. India will also set up a Chair on Cyber Security in Tallinn University and a Chair on Indian languages, history and literature in another of Estonia’s universities.
The government-run Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) setup its first overseas campus in Kampala, Uganda to assist students of African nations understand the nuances of globalisation and capacity-building in the continent. The new institute, named India-Africa Institute of Foreign Trade (IAIFT), is being set up as a part of the Indian government`s initiative to help develop a higher education system in African countries in specialised fields.During the India-Africa Forum Summit in 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that India would help establish 19 educational institutions in Africa. IIFT is one of them and the African Union wanted it to be set up in Kampala.
India and China held their first Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing on 26 September 2011. India and China agreed to deepen bilateral investment cooperation, further open up markets to each other and improve the investment environment. India and China also agreed to strengthen cooperation on energy efficiency and conservation, as well as on environmental protection. In order to promote sustainable development, the two sides agreed to cooperate in the renewable energy sector. The two sides agreed to host the next SED in 2012 in India. Strategic Economic Dialogue will increase mutual understanding and trust between India and China. Through this dialogue, both nations could share their experience to achieve economic development. Although the bilateral trade crossed 61 billion US dollars in 2011, India was left with deficit of over 40.9 billion US dollars due to accelerated exports from China.
India and Bangladesh on 6 September 2011 signed a historic protocol on land boundary agreement following the talks between Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka. During the visit of Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh, India and Bangladesh signed the
following agreements:
Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development
Protocol to the Agreement concerning the demarcation of the Land Boundary between India and Bangladesh and related matters
MOU between India and Bangladesh to facilitate Overland Transit Traffic between Bangladesh and Nepal
Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in Renewable Energy
Memorandum of Understanding on Conservation of the Sunderban
Protocol on Conservation of the Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sunderban
Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Fisheries
Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between Doordarshan and Bangladesh Television
Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between Jawaharlal Nehru University and Dhaka University
Agreement of Cooperation between National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFT), India and BGMEA Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT), Bangladesh.
The Government of the Republic of India signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Uruguay for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital on 8th September, 2011. The Agreement was signed in New Delhi by MC Joshi, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes on behalf of the Government of India and by Cesar Ferrer, Ambassador of Uruguay to India, on behalf of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.