Courtesy: The Wire
India and Sri Lanka recently signed six energy agreements, including plans for an oil pipeline from India to Sri Lanka, electricity grid connectivity, and cooperation in renewable energy. Sri Lanka can benefit from India's cost-effective oil sourcing and processing and pay for it in rupees, easing its balance of payments crisis. Its wider use of the Rupee fulfills a long term objective for Indian policymakers.
Courtesy: Nikkei Asia
China-centric global supply chains are being disrupted by rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China and multiple global shocks, forcing multinational companies to rethink are global sourcing strategies. India can leverage this moment to become a complementary manufacturing hub in Asia by reaping gains from technology transfers and creating value-adding jobs.
Courtesy: The Times of India
On July 21, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to visit for the first time since taking office. India has already provided $5 billion in economic assistance to Sri Lanka, and is now looking to expand its investment in the nation. Sri Lanka is also seeing interest from Indian private investment. The visit presents an opportunity for the two countries extend this relationship in new areas of cooperation, especially energy, infrastructure, and tourism.
Courtesy: Deutsche Welle (DW)
On July 13, the German cabinet approved its Strategy on China after nearly two years of internal discussions. The new strategy simultaneously views China as a “partner, competitor, and systemic rival”, calling for de-risking German economic dependence on China, while also expanding cooperation with other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
Courtesy: The Dahrendorf Forum
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has led to the resurgence of interest in Central Asian as an alternate trade corridor between Europe and Asia. Timely investment in connectivity projects like the Middle Corridor and the INSTC by regional stakeholders, as well as by the EU, China and India, must now build on this interest to create new regional, international, and cross-continental transport corridors.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Supply chains are central to the new chapter of India-U.S. relations. Simultaneously, China-centric global supply chains, which underpinned East Asia’s prosperity, are changing as multinationals re-assess risks in the post-Covid era. Is the shift to India and the rest of South Asia occurring? This paper finds that South Asia supply chain pessimism could be changing, and India can spread gains through regionalising supply chains in its neighbourhood.
Courtesy: The Strategist
Despite its natural advantages, the Bay of Bengal region lags economically, in part due to insufficient connectivity between the member nations. Improving financial connectivity between them is the first step to easing movement of goods, services and people. Greater financial collaboration also can help the region mitigate the impact of ongoing geopolitical upheavals that have caused food and energy prices to rise.
Courtesy: T20 Indonesia
G20 President Indonesia, hosted the Think-20 (T20) Summit in Bali 4-6 September. The recommendations of the working groups resonate in the Leaders’ Statement released at the G20 Leaders’ Summit. The T20 Task Force on Open Trade, Sustainable Investment and Industry published its notes on multilateral trade reform, digital trade, health. Yose Rizal Damuri of CSIS, is the Lead Co-Chair of this Task Force.
The global energy market has been disrupted since the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Energy security is now a core concern for most countries and offers the chance to fix the structural problems in the energy generation sector. The interaction between energy security and environmental policies must be reassessed so policies can be consistent for the long term. Gateway House’s Saeeduddin Faridi speaks to Robin Mills, energy expert and CEO of Qamar Energy, about the state of energy markets.
Russia, the founding member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), has been hit by Western sanctions on its energy exports and financial system. Still, Ivan Timofeev, Director of Programs at the Russian International Affairs Council, sees new opportunities to be seized. Deepening India-Russia business engagement is one, and the SCO as a constructive and accommodating force is another. K.A. Dhananjay from Gateway House spoke to Timofeev who visited Mumbai recently.
