3-Jan-2023: India takes over leadership of the Asian Pacific Postal Union

India will take over the leadership of the Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) having its Headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand from this month. Following the successful elections held during the 13th APPU Congress held in Bangkok during August- September 2022, Dr. Vinaya Prakash Singh, erstwhile Member (Personnel), Postal Services Board will take over the charge of Secretary General of the Union for a tenure of 4 years.

Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) is an intergovernmental organization of 32-member countries of the Asian-Pacific region. APPU is the only Restricted Union of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in the region, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The goal of APPU is to extend, facilitate and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services. As the regional center for various UPU projects, APPU also takes the lead in ensuring that all technical and operational projects of the UPU are fulfilled in the region so that the region is integrated into the global postal network in the best possible way. Secretary General leads the activities of the Union and is also the Director of the Asian Pacific Postal College (APPC) which is the largest intergovernmental postal training institute in the region.

“My goal is to improve the regional coordination with postal players in the Asia Pacific region to improve the growth of business through the postal network, to ensure the sustainability of the Union, and to revamp the training courses offered at APPC” said Dr. VP Singh regarding his vision for the Union. Asia Pacific region generates around half of the global mail volume and has around one-third of the global postal human resource.

“This is the first time an Indian is leading an international organization in the postal sector. At this crucial juncture for the sector, it is a privilege for the Department to have its officer lead the activities of the Union, especially beginning from this year of India’s G20 presidency” said Shri Vineet Pandey, Secretary, Department of Posts. “India will keep extending its full support to the APPU and further strengthen its contribution for effective realisation of the collective vision of APPU membership” he added.

21-Dec-2022: Bilateral trade between India and the GCC

Bilateral Trade between India and the GCC grew from US$ 87.35 billion in FY 2020-21 to US$ 154.66 billion in FY 2021-22, registering an increase of 77.06% on a year-on-year basis. During the current FY 2022-23, for the period April-October 2022, bilateral trade between India and the GCC stood at US$ 111.71 billion, up from US$ 79.49 billion during the same period in FY 2021-22. This is an increase of 40.53% on a year-on-year basis. During the period FY 2017-18 to FY 2021-22, bilateral trade between India and the GCC has grown by 10.57% on a compounded annual growth rate basis.

25-Nov-2022: India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) decide to pursue resumption of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Negotiations

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles, Government of India, and His Excellency Dr. Nayef Falah M. Al-Hajraf, Secretary General, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), held a Joint Press Conference, in New Delhi today, to announce the intent to pursue negotiations on the India-GCC FTA.

With forward-looking and solution-oriented deliberations, bilateral engagements witnessed significant progress on all matters of mutual interest across the entire gamut of bilateral economic relations between India and the GCC nations.

Both sides agreed to expedite conclusion of the requisite legal and technical requirements for formal resumption of the FTA negotiations. The FTA is envisaged to be a modern, comprehensive Agreement with substantial coverage of goods and services. Both sides emphasized that the FTA will create new jobs, raise living standards, and provide wider social and economic opportunities in India and all the GCC countries. Both sides agreed to significantly expand and diversify the trade basket in line with the enormous potential that exists on account of the complementary business and economic ecosystems of India and the GCC.

It may be noted that the GCC is currently India’s largest trading partner bloc with bilateral trade in FY 2021-22 valued at over USD 154 billion with exports valued at approximately USD 44 billion and imports of around USD 110 billion (non-oil exports of USD 33.8 Billion and non-oil imports of USD 37.2 Billion). Bilateral trade in services between India and the GCC was valued at around USD 14 billion in FY 2021-22, with exports valued at USD 5.5 Billion and imports at USD 8.3 Billion.

GCC countries contribute almost 35% of India’s oil imports and 70% of gas imports. India’s overall crude oil imports from the GCC in 2021-22 were about $48 billion, while LNG and LPG imports in 2021-22 were about $21 billion. Investments from the GCC in India are currently valued at over USD 18 billion.

9-Dec-2018: 39th Gulf Cooperation Council summit ends in Riyadh

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members sought to remove obstacles ahead of the common Gulf market to ensure the economic unity till 2025 and quickly complete the procedures to implement Joint Gulf military command.

39th GCC summit held in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh ended, the Secretary-General Abdellatif al-Zayani read the closure declaration in which member countries underscored their loyalty to the organization.

The declaration called on to form a route map to complete the integration between member states and ensure financial unity until 2025.

It was noted that GCC would combat radicalism, be loyal to the superiority of law and operate together with the international partners to fight terrorism, noting that the member states should pursue a common foreign policy to be distanced with the regional and global conflicts.

GCC declaration also emphasized that it would continue to support fellow states, the Palestinian cause, and Yemen.

The next summit is going to be held under the United Arab Emirates (UAE) presidency.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain collectively severed ties with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism, and imposed an air/land/sea embargo on Qatar, which vociferously denies the allegations.