The Indian foreign policy establishment is gearing up for one of the most important events of this year. All resources are currently being focused on this single event. Though other issues will continue to impact India and will be a factor in the evolving world order.
Let us look at some of the important events:
1. US President Donald Trump’s visit to India
Donald Trump will be visiting India from February 24-25, 2019. He will begin his visit from the state of Gujarat and will inaugurate a new stadium that will also host the “kem chho Trump” event.
He will also be visiting New Delhi and Agra. Defence and agriculture related agreements are expected to be signed.
Issues of mutual interest such as defence, strategic matters and those pertaining to Afghanistan, Iran and the Indo-Pacific are expected to be discussed.
This week, Indian and US authorities will be preparing to ensure that all arrangements are being made to ensure the success of the visit.
2. India and Novel Corona virus
India is reporting more number of cases, the outbreak of which began in China.
Kerala has seen three positive cases, one Indian National in Saudi Arabia has tested positive for the MERS strain of the virus and few more are believed to have been affected, off the coast of Japan.
3. Sudan decides to hand over Omar Bashir to the ICC
The government in Sudan has decided to handover its former President Omar Bashir to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The former President who was deposed in a country wide protests in April 2019, has been accused of committing war crimes during the decade Long Darfur crisis that threatened to disrupt the influential African nation.
4. Corona virus and China
Wuhan and it’s neighbouring cities have been cut off from the rest of the country. All transport links have been suspended to and from the urban centres.
The international community was also shocked to see the forced detention of the residents in various quarantine centres and this has raised pertinent questions over human rights practices of China.
Hong Kong is already protesting against these centres.
The Chinese economy has already suffered because of this issue and the CCP is unable to deal with this issue.
5. German economy slows down
In a worrying sign for Europe and the rest of the world, Germany has reported a slowdown after expenditure and exports both have reduced.
Germany is the most important economy in Europe and this slowdown will affect not only the continent but also the world.