SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Tuesday, February 11, 2025 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
UN Security Council raises alarm over rising IS-K threat from Afghanistan (VOA)
VOA [2/10/2025 5:59 PM, Ayaz Gul, 2717K]
United Nations counterterrorism officials warned during a Security Council meeting Monday that an Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan remains a significant threat to regional and global security.
The discussion centered on the threat posed by Islamic State, also known as Daesh, and its regional offshoots to international peace and security.
The Afghan-based Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) was highlighted as one of the "most dangerous branches" of the transnational terrorist group. It has carried out repeated high-profile attacks targeting Afghan civilians and members of the country’s de facto Taliban rulers.
"ISIL-Khorasan has continued to pose a significant threat in Afghanistan, the region and beyond," Vladimir Voronkov, U.N. undersecretary-general for counterterrorism, told the meeting, using another acronym for IS-K.
He stated that IS-K supporters had plotted attacks in Europe and were actively seeking to recruit individuals from Central Asian countries.
"There were also reports of small numbers of foreign terrorist fighters continuing to travel to Afghanistan," Voronkov said. He renewed a U.N. appeal for all member states to come together to prevent the South Asian country from "again becoming a hotbed of terrorist activities.".
While addressing the meeting, U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea described IS-K as a significant global threat.
"We remain concerned about ISIS-K’s capabilities to plot and conduct attacks, as well as sustain recruitment campaigns, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan," Shea stated, using another acronym for IS-K.
Chinese envoy Fu Cong cautioned without elaborating that terrorists linked to IS-K, al-Qaida and the anti-China East Turkestan Islamic Movement "are very active" in Afghanistan and "are colluding with each other.".
"China calls on the Afghan interim government to take visible and verifiable action to disintegrate and eliminate all terrorist organizations entrenched in Afghanistan," Fu said, referring to the Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., attributed the increasing threat of IS-K to the hasty withdrawal of U.S.-led NATO troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
"The growing activity of ISIL-Khorasan is no coincidence. While hastily leaving Afghanistan, NATO troops abandoned vast quantities of weapons and equipment there, which then fell into the hands of ISIL inter alia [among other things]," Nebenzya asserted.
Munir Akram, Pakistan’s envoy to the U.N., questioned the validity of U.S. claims that IS-K is conducting recruitment campaigns in his country. He cited U.N. findings that Afghanistan is "the main hub for ISIL-K’s recruitment and facilitation" and rejected "any imputation that there is any such recruitment in Pakistan.".
Taliban authorities have not responded to the U.N. assertions but have persistently downplayed IS-K activities in the country, claiming that no foreign terrorist groups operated on Afghan soil.
De facto Afghan leaders assert that Taliban counterterrorism forces have nearly eliminated IS-K hideouts, and the group can no longer pose a threat to Afghanistan or other nations from its territory.
However, IS-K has routinely conducted and claimed attacks targeting members of the Afghan Shiite community and the Taliban.
Last December, an IS-K suicide bomber targeted and killed Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, the Taliban’s minister of refugees, along with several of his associates inside his ministry in Kabul, the Afghan capital. This marked the most high-profile assassination since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of NATO troops from the country. Five killed in suicide bomb blast in northeastern Afghanistan, police say (Reuters)
Reuters [2/11/2025 3:47 AM, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, 5.2M]
At least five people were killed when a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body detonated outside a bank in northeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, police said.
The blast took place at 8:35 a.m. (0405 GMT) near the Kabul Bank branch in Kunduz province, killing the bank’s security guard and four others including civilians and members of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement, police said.Seven people were wounded, provincial police spokesman Jumma Uddin Khakasr added.
He did not say who was believed to be behind the attack and no group has claimed responsibility so far.
Militants from the Afghan chapters of Islamic State have waged an insurgency against the Taliban since they returned to power in 2021.
Taliban authorities say they have mostly crushed the group, even as it continues to carry out attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan
Pakistan’s PM grieves over deaths of migrants from his country in a boat sinking near Libya (AP)
AP [2/11/2025 4:14 AM, Munir Ahmed and Sam Magdy, 456K]
Pakistan’s prime minister on Tuesday expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the deaths of an unspecified number of his countrymen over the weekend when a boat carrying Europe-bound migrants sank near the Libyan coast.
The boat capsized on Saturday in the Marsa Dela port in the western city of Zawiya, leaving dozens of Europe-bound migrants dead or missing, according to local authorities in Libya.
The Libyan Red Crescent said its teams recovered 10 bodies and the coast guard was searching for others. Pakistan says an estimated 65 people were on the boat, and efforts were underway to ascertain information about affected Pakistanis.
In a statement, Shehbaz Sharif ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the process of identifying the victims as soon as possible and to provide all possible assistance to the affected people. He also ordered action against those “involved in heinous acts like human trafficking,” according to a statement.
The latest incident came less than a month after authorities said dozens of Pakistanis died when a boat capsized off West Africa. However, some of the survivors upon their return home insisted that their boat had not capsized and in fact smugglers killed 43 migrants in a dispute over payment.
Hundreds of Pakistanis die every year while trying to reach Europe by land and sea with the help of human smugglers. They also use dangerous land and sea routes to reach Europe in an effort to find good jobs.
Libya, which has borders with six nations and a long shore on the Mediterranean, plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Since then, the oil-rich country has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and seeking better lives in Europe.According to the International Organization for Migration’s missing migrants project, at least 674 migrants were reported dead and more than 1,000 missing off Libya in 2024. More than 21,700 migrants were intercepted and returned to the chaos-stricken country. In 2023, the IOM reported 962 migrants dead and 1,563 missing off Libya.
Around 17,200 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2023, it said. Those people are held in government-run detention centers rife with abuses, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture — practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to U.N.-commissioned investigators. The abuse often accompanies attempts to extort money from the families of the imprisoned migrants before releasing them or allowing them to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats to Europe. American woman who went viral after flying to Pakistan to marry teenager finally leaves country (The Independent)
The Independent [2/10/2025 10:31 PM, Madeline Sherratt, 57769K]
An American woman who became a social media sensation after flying to Pakistan to marry a teenager has finally left the country, reports say.
Onijah Andrew Robinson, 33, traveled to Karachi in October last year to meet and marry Nidal Ahmed Memon – a 19-year-old Pakistani man.
The New Yorker was ultimately rejected by the teenager, after his family is said to have objected to their relationship. Ms Robinson’s 30 day visa reportedly expired in November but she refused to leave the country, with her plight going viral thanks to clips widely shared on Instagram and TikTok.
Now, some four months later, local media says she has finally left Pakistan. Pakistani outlet Geo News stated that Ms Robinson boarded a flight from Karachi on Friday, with footage showing local police seeing her off at the airport.
The News International - one of the country’s largest English language newspapers - said that a medical board had declared her fit to travel having discharged her from a stay in hospital. She was persuaded to return home by US consulate staff in Karachi, who also arranged her ticket, the newspaper added.
But to further muddy the waters in the strange saga, videos were posted to social media on Monday claiming to be of Ms Robinson in Dubai. Her flight home to the US on Friday was via Dubai, News International said, but in one Instagram clip she is seen posing for selfies with a large group of smiling men surrounding her on an outside street.
A caption on the clip says Ms Robinson had "attracted a new fanbase in Dubai".
During her extended stay in Pakistan, she held a bizarre press conference in which she asked the government for "100k or more", claiming it was to improve vital services in the country such as infrastructure and local transport.
In another, she asked for "two thousand or more every week", "more than five thousand dollars in USD", "I want 20K up front, 5K-10K to stay here every week, and I want those demands from the government right away", according to the spate of videos that were circulated on TikTok.
The Independent has contacted the US consulate in Karachi for comment. Can Critical Minerals Redefine Pakistan-US Relations? (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [2/10/2025 4:04 AM, Umair Jamal, 857K]
Pakistan and the United States, long bound by a security-centric relationship, may be on the cusp of a transformation as Islamabad explores proposals to attract the newly inaugurated Trump administration with stakes in its critical mineral reserves and other business ventures.
The prospect gained traction when U.S. businessman Gentry Beach, believed to be close to U.S. President Donald Trump, visited Pakistan earlier this month, promising billions in investments for mining and mineral projects.
"America cares about Pakistan. And I believe that together we can be very strong," Beach said. "And we need Pakistan. You are our front face in this entire region, very important," he continued, expressing optimism for bright future bilateral ties and economic cooperation between the two countries.
"Pakistan has something that America needs, and America has something that Pakistan needs," Beach said, referencing the country’s mineral reserves. "That’s a wonderful situation for both of us to be in.".
It is too early to determine if Beach’s view aligns with a policy change in the Trump-led White House. His visit comes amid widespread concern in Pakistan about Washington’s disinterest in the country, following its withdrawal from Afghanistan and the geopolitical complexities surrounding the region.
The Pakistan-U.S. relationship has historically been dominated by security cooperation, with limited economic engagement. Bilateral trade between the two nations stands at a modest $6 billion annually, heavily tilted in favor of Pakistan exports.
For Pakistan, increased U.S. investment in its mineral sector could provide a much-needed economic boost, create jobs, and enhance infrastructure development. However, the success of this implausible pivot hinges on Pakistan overcoming significant geopolitical and domestic challenges to inflame Washington’s interest in a convincing manner.
Pakistan’s mineral wealth is vast but underdeveloped. The Reko Diq mine in Balochistan, one of the world’s largest untapped copper-gold reserves, holds an estimated 5.9 billion tons of ore. Similarly, northern regions like Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are believed to harbor lithium reserves, critical for renewable energy technologies. The Thar coalfield in Sindh, with 175 billion tons of lignite, further underscores Pakistan’s resource potential.
However, Pakistan’s efforts to entice the United States face tough geopolitical obstacles. For instance, India’s growing influence in Washington, particularly as a strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific, overshadows Pakistan’s outreach. The U.S. views India as a counterbalance to China, making Pakistan’s historical rivalry with India and its close ties with Beijing a complicating factor.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a cornerstone of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has further strained Pakistan-U.S. relations. Washington perceives CPEC as a tool for expanding Chinese influence, raising doubts about Pakistan’s ability to position itself as a neutral partner.
Additionally, the U.S. disengagement from Afghanistan has diminished Pakistan’s strategic relevance. Once a key ally in the war on terror, Pakistan now finds itself sidelined as Washington has seemingly shifted its focus to the Indo-Pacific.
Pakistan’s domestic landscape presents its own set of challenges. Most of Pakistan’s critical mineral reserves are located in Balochistan, a region grappling with insurgency and distrust of federal projects. Balochistan’s security issues, coupled with a history of contract disputes, such as the Reko Diq international arbitration case, might deter foreign investors. Corruption, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and inadequate infrastructure could further erode confidence.
To attract U.S. investment, Pakistan must demonstrate its value as a reliable partner by offering transparent policies, ensuring security guarantees, and diversifying its foreign policy to reduce over-reliance on China.
While critical minerals and business proposals offer a potential conduit to revitalize Pakistan-U.S. relations, they are unlikely to overshadow the broader strategic considerations that currently define the bilateral dynamic. At best, the Trump administration is likely to engage incrementally, testing Pakistan’s capacity to deliver on its promises, rather than committing to transformative partnerships. In the best-case scenario, Pakistan could emerge as a key player in global supply chains, offering the U.S. an alternative to Chinese dominance in critical minerals. However, the road ahead is fraught with challenges, and the likelihood of a significant shift in Pakistan-U.S. relations remains uncertain.
For Pakistan, the comment from a U.S. businessman about investing in Pakistan presents a long-term play that demands unprecedented political unity, economic reforms, and diplomatic recalibration. Success on Pakistan’s part would require addressing U.S. concerns about transparency, geopolitical alignment, and security, while leveraging its mineral wealth to foster mutual economic benefits.
Islamabad’s bet on critical minerals is a bold move — one that could redefine its relationship with Washington, but only if it navigates the complex web of geopolitical and domestic obstacles with resolve and skill. India
Nuclear Power Is ‘Absolutely’ on Agenda at Modi-Trump Meeting (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/11/2025 2:09 AM, Preeti Soni and Sing Yee Ong, 5.5M]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will discuss nuclear energy, including small and modular reactors, during his meeting with US President Donald Trump this week.“Oh absolutely! It is on the agenda,” Indian Oil and Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at the India Energy Week conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, in response to a question on whether the two leaders would discuss atomic power.
The world’s most populous nation is seeking to develop more nuclear power to meet decarbonization goals. The government has pledged billions of dollar for research, and is amending laws to lure private capital and boost the sector’s growth. The nuclear industry in India has been stymied in part due to safety concerns, but also because of a nuclear liability law that holds operators and equipment suppliers liable for damages in case of an accident.
NTPC Ltd., the country’s biggest power producer, is in initial talks with foreign technology suppliers to expand in nuclear energy.
India’s interest in nuclear power comes as the industry is enjoying an international renaissance. It’s a stable source of low-carbon power that’s able to provide energy round the clock, and has garnered global support as countries seek to transition to cleaner energy. Trump’s Eye-for-Eye Tariff Threat Risks New Asia Flashpoints (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/11/2025 2:09 AM, Katie Dmitrieva, 5.5M]
Economists are warning the next stage of Donald Trump’s trade war would open new fronts across Asia, with India and Thailand among the nations most exposed to risks from the US president’s vow to impose reciprocal tariffs on partners.
The two Asian countries stand out because the tariffs they impose on the US are, on average, far above the rate charged on them by the US, according to a range of estimates from analysts who considered scenarios of like-for-like levies. The caveat is that Trump has yet to clarify the potential policy, including which countries would be targeted and on what basis.“Emerging Asian economies have higher relative tariff rates on US exports and are thus at risk of higher reciprocal tariffs,” Nomura Holdings Inc. analysts led by Sonal Varma said in a note to clients. “We expect Asian economies to step up their negotiations with Trump.”
Economists are warning the next stage of Donald Trump’s trade war would open new fronts across Asia, with India and Thailand among the nations most exposed to risks from the US president’s vow to impose reciprocal tariffs on partners.
The two Asian countries stand out because the tariffs they impose on the US are, on average, far above the rate charged on them by the US, according to a range of estimates from analysts who considered scenarios of like-for-like levies. The caveat is that Trump has yet to clarify the potential policy, including which countries would be targeted and on what basis.“Emerging Asian economies have higher relative tariff rates on US exports and are thus at risk of higher reciprocal tariffs,” Nomura Holdings Inc. analysts led by Sonal Varma said in a note to clients. “We expect Asian economies to step up their negotiations with Trump.”
Back during his first term in the White House, Trump and his allies pushed for reciprocal trade measures by floating the US Reciprocal Trade Act. That would have given Trump broad powers to impose line-by-line tariffs across all trading partners.And during his presidential campaign last year, Trump also vowed matching levies, saying that “if they charge US, we charge THEM — an eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff, same exact amount.”
The renewed threat will heap more pressure on officials across Asia to appease Trump and make their export-dependent economies more immune to a possible escalation in trade tensions.
India’s top importers of liquefied natural gas are already negotiating purchases of more fuel from the US ahead of a summit between the two countries’ leaders this week. And Thailand is considering buying more American products, adding to its increased imports of ethane and agricultural goods planned for this year.
Bloomberg Economics’ Maeva Cousin and Deutsche Bank’s George Saravelos are among those who found that India’s wide tariff differential with the US left it at particular risk of retaliation.
The average rate that India charges US imports is more than 10 percentage points higher than US levies on Indian goods, according to Cousin’s analysis.
A broader interpretation of “reciprocity,” which could include considerations such as a country’s trade surplus with the US or its taxes on American firms, would have bigger consequences for all nations, Saravelos said in a report.
India and Thailand are among Asian economies that may face a tariff hike of 4 to 6 percentage points, assuming the US imposes duties to reduce the differential, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley led by Chetan Ahya, who added there may be scope for India to boost its purchases of US defense equipment, energy and aircraft.
The level of impact depends on the details of the potential policy, including whether Trump’s administration targets national average tariffs, individual industries or products, or factors in other considerations, they wrote.
Although in some cases a country’s overall tariff level on US goods is relatively low, it could be far higher for certain items such as autos or agriculture.“Tariff actions have already been far more aggressive” than during Trump’s first trade war in 2018-19, Morgan Stanley’s analysts said. Trade tensions could rise further, and “this week’s developments may have taken that risk up by yet another notch.” India’s high tariffs are a barrier to imports, White House’s Hassett says (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 11:30 AM, Andrea Shalal, 48128K]
India has high tariffs that lock out imports, U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday, adding that India’s prime minister had a lot to discuss with Trump when the two leaders meet soon.Trump believes the United States should impose reciprocal tariffs that are at least equal to those imposed by other countries, Hassett said in an interview with CNBC, adding, "If they go down, we’ll go down.""Almost every trading partner has much higher tariffs than we do," he said, noting that Canada, Mexico and Britain had tariffs in the same range as the United States. Other countries, including Taiwan and India, had much higher rates.Reuters reported earlier on Monday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing additional tariff cuts ahead of a two-day visit to Washington from Wednesday.Trump on Sunday said he plans announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. on Monday, on top of existing metals duties, and reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately.Trump has previously called India a "very big abuser" on trade and urged it to buy more American-made security equipment to move towards a fair two-way trading relationship.India is considering tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors, from electronics to medical equipment and chemicals, to boost U.S. exports in line with New Delhi’s domestic production plans, three government officials said.India also plans to propose increasing energy product imports from the United States, estimated at over $11 billion in first eleven months of 2024, to alleviate trade imbalances.As the world’s fourth-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), India may push its oil companies to purchase more U.S. LNG, buoyed by the Trump administration’s lifting of export permit bans for new projects.Based on data from the World Trade Organization, India’s simple average tariff rate is 17%, compared to about 3.3% for the U.S. On a trade-weighted basis, India’s rate is about 12%, vs the U.S. rate of 2.2%.Hassett told CNBC that Trump was concerned that the Biden administration had granted waivers from tariffs on steel and aluminum that were imposed during Trump’s first term to ensure the U.S. had sufficient steel production in the event of a war. "So steel capacity went way up, and then all of a sudden, there’s waivers for this and waivers for that. There’s hundreds and thousands of waivers," Hassett said. "So President Trump, as he can do, is like, ‘Okay, so let’s just stop the waivers, and he’ll do so at a time of his choosing.’" Modi’s US visit raises industry hopes amid tariff threats (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 10:42 AM, Manoj Kumar, 48128K]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a two-day U.S. visit starting Wednesday, is expected to propose tariff cuts and increased energy and defence imports during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Modi is keen to avert a potential trade war and boost trade ties after Trump threatened reciprocal tariffs on many countries, including a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports.
Here are key issues likely to be discussed during the bilateral meeting:
ENERGY IMPORTS
India plans to propose increasing energy products imports from the United States, estimated at over $11 billion in first eleven months of 2024, to alleviate trade imbalances.
As the world’s fourth largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), India may push its oil companies to purchase more U.S. LNG, buoyed by the Trump administration’s lifting of export permit bans for new projects.
State-run GAIL India Ltd (GAIL.NS) is aiming to acquire a stake in a U.S. LNG plant or to secure long-term supply deals, company chairman Sandeep Gupta has said.
DEFENCE IMPORTS
India will likely negotiate the purchase and co-production of combat vehicles and finalise a fighter jet engine deal during Modi’s visit.
Protracted talks have been ongoing between India and the U.S. over the co-production of General Dynamics’ (GD.N) Stryker combat vehicles.
Officials from India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) (HIAE.NS) are set to meet with U.S. officials and General Electric’s (GE.N) aerospace unit in the coming weeks to finalise the deal.
ILLEGAL MIGRATION
The countries are expected to discuss the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants by the U.S. administration, and India’s concerns about their treatment.
Mukesh Agi, president of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), said the industry is addressing the misuse of H-1B visas while seeking an increase in legal migration to meet the United States’ professional shortage.
MARKET ACCESS AND LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
U.S. officials and industry representatives are likely to raise the issue of "market access and a level-playing field" for U.S. businesses, citing higher import tariffs on certain goods.
Elon Musk is expected to meet with Modi to discuss bringing Tesla’s cars to India and expediting the allocation of satellite spectrum for his Starlink project.
INVESTMENT BY INDIAN COMPANIES
India will likely propose facilitating investments by Indian companies in the U.S., highlighting their billion-dollar investments in steel, garment, and contact manufacturing sectors.
STRENGTHENING STRATEGIC TIES
Indian officials and industry groups are optimistic Modi’s visit will enhance strategic and economic ties with the United States.
New Delhi aims to attract increased investments from U.S. companies in manufacturing and services, including the insurance sector, amid escalating threats from China. Narrowing the Trade Deficit Will Top Modi-Trump Meeting Agenda (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [2/10/2025 3:08 AM, Elizabeth Roche, 857K]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Washington, D.C. on February 12-13 to meet with newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump. Their talks are expected to shape the trajectory of bilateral ties in areas like trade, investment, and defense for the next four years.
Modi’s meeting with Trump comes close on the heels of those by Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Ishiba Shigeru of Japan. It follows a visit to Washington by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar for Trump’s inauguration and a telephone conversation between Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his newly confirmed U.S. counterpart, Pete Hegseth.
From being on opposite sides during the Cold War, India and the United States have elevated ties to a "Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership." Their relationship has been described as "the defining partnership of the 21st century" that is "decisively delivering on an ambitious agenda that serves the global good." The decisive turn in ties came during U.S. President Bill Clinton’s visit to India in 2000. Since then, the relationship has enjoyed bipartisan support across successive administrations in both countries.
However, Trump is known to be transactional and unpredictable. Though he and Modi get along quite well, Trump has never shied away from criticizing India for high tariffs; he has famously described India as "tariff king" for preventing the easy flow of U.S. goods into Indian markets. The U.S. president has also threatened to penalize countries with trade surpluses vis-à-vis the United States. Two-way trade between India and the United States topped $118 billion in 2023-24, with India posting a surplus of $32 billion. In 2024, this surplus stood at $45.6 billion, according to U.S. data.
Having managed to work with Trump during his first term in office, New Delhi will be keen to ensure an equally smooth if not better relationship with the U.S. president this time around given the uncertainties in the world, including the global economy.
What can Modi offer Trump during their talks this week that will ensure ties are managed without hiccups and remain on an even keel during the next four years of the Trump presidency?
For one, India has already signaled a cut in duties on a range of imports that would help increase U.S. exports to India. These include high-end cars and motorbikes, potentially benefiting American companies like Harley-Davidson. The announcement on tariff reductions was made in the annual budget that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled in Parliament on February 1. Some more announcements could be on the anvil.
Another proposal that could mollify Trump could be the offer to restart talks on a trade deal. A limited trade pact with the United States was under discussion during Trump’s first term in office between 2017-21. The India-U.S. joint statement in February 2020, issued after Trump’s visit to India, said the two countries had "agreed to promptly conclude the ongoing negotiations, which they hope can become phase one of a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement that reflects the true ambition and full potential of the bilateral commercial relations, advancing prosperity, investment, and job creation in both countries." It was not completed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration giving way to the Biden administration in 2021.
Earlier this month, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was quoted as saying that India wanted "to make sure American goods get a fair tariff regime and Indian goods get an equal opportunity in the United States.".
Another measure that has been suggested to narrow the trade gap is the purchase by India of more U.S. military hardware. This could work. For instance, during Trump’s first term in office, India bought 24 submarine-hunting MH-60R Seahawk helicopters for the Indian Navy under a $2.6 billion contract signed in February 2020. In a phone call late last month, Trump "emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship," a White House statement said later.
Ahead of Modi’s visit to Washington, there are reports that India is considering buying more C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and P-8I maritime patrol aircraft from the United States.
The Indian government has also indicated that it could buy more energy from the U.S. It was in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office, that India began energy imports from the United States. In 2020, there was talk of deepening the energy cooperation further, with the U.S. looking to meet "India’s goal to diversify its import base for coking or metallurgical coal and natural gas [and] welcoming recent commercial arrangements intended to accelerate access to LNG [liquefied natural gas] in the Indian market.".
During the Biden administration, the emphasis was on green energy and technologies to mitigate the impact of fossil fuels on the environment.
With Trump back in the White House and vowing to make the U.S. rich again on the back of energy exports, India and the U.S. could explore this area for further collaboration.
Then there is the nuclear energy space. India has been on the lookout for small modular reactors to boost energy production in Asia’s third largest economy.
Despite India and the U.S. signing a civil nuclear pact in 2008, cooperation in this sector has been non-existent largely due to premier Indian entities like Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Center (IGCAR), and the Indian Rare Earths (IRE) being under U.S. restrictions. India’s 2010 Civil Nuclear Liability Law puts the liability of accidents on the suppliers of reactors and components and not on the operator of the plants, stymying international interest in India’s huge nuclear power market.
Last month, Jake Sullivan, who was national security adviser in the Biden administration, announced that Washington would "remove" hurdles for civil nuclear partnership between Indian and American firms. Subsequently, BARC, IGCAR, and IRE were removed from the restricted U.S. Entities List.
In her budget speech, Sitharaman said that the Indian government would amend the Civil Nuclear Liability Law to encourage the active participation of the private sector. This opens the door for new opportunities for U.S. businesses that will strengthen Modi’s hand as he heads to Washington.
All these steps are, however, long-term ones with considerable gestation periods.
A possible immediate takeaway from the Modi-Trump meeting this week could be India agreeing to take back more of its certified nationals staying illegally in the United States.
The return of more than 100 Indians from the U.S. in an American military aircraft sparked criticism after news reports drew attention to detainees being shackled and handcuffed during the flight. Perhaps India can work out an arrangement with the U.S. to smoothen the deportation process with the use of its own resources to fly back other Indian deportees. That could be a win-win for both sides. It would give Trump a domestic boost on illegal migration while bolstering India’s argument for keeping the legal routes open for students, skilled professionals, tourists, and business. India’s Adani ties up with US based Mayo Clinic for affordable health campuses (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 1:42 PM, Tanvi Mehta, 48128K]
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday said his family will invest over 60 billion rupees ($686.18 million) to launch two affordable health campuses in Mumbai and Ahmedabad in consultation with the U.S.-based Mayo Clinic.Each campus will have hospitals, medical colleges, transitional care and research facilities, with technical expertise provided by the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic Global Consulting, according to a statement from the Adani group.Adani said the health campuses were the first projects to come from a 600 billion rupee-pledge towards healthcare, education and skills development made two years ago.The Adani group is also revamping Asia’s largest slum into a modern city hub. But the $619 million deal to redevelop Mumbai’s Dharavi slum has faced opposition from residents over its capacity to deliver.In November, U.S. authorities accused founder Adani and some top executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes worth $265 million to secure Indian power supply contracts. The Adani group has called the charges "baseless". Russian energy official says US sanctions should not hinder oil trade with India (Reuters)
Reuters [2/11/2025 2:43 AM, Nidhi Verma, 5.2M]
U.S. sanctions on Russia should not affect Moscow’s oil trade with India, Pavel Sorokin, Russia’s first deputy energy minister, said on Tuesday, adding that it was too early to assess the impact of the latest restrictions.
India became the top buyer of Russian sea-borne oil sold at a discount after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow and curtailed their energy purchases in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last month, Washington imposed fresh sanctions targeting Russia’s oil supply chain, causing tanker freight rates to soar as some buyers and ports in China and India steered clear of sanctioned ships.
"Our relationship with India is based on economic pragmatism," Sorokin told the India Energy Week conference.
"We believe energy trade shouldn’t be hindered by any politics," he said.
Sorokin said it was too early to measure the impact of the latest U.S. sanctions.
"You cannot judge about the situation on the basis of a few weeks of data. More time is needed to assess these things, but we believe that constructive relationships will continue to be successful," he said.
Russian supply to India fell in December and January from levels in the preceding six months.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) the country’s top refiner, flagged last month that it is facing a potential drop in its Russian oil imports this fiscal year ending March 31, following the latest U.S. sanctions on Moscow.
IOC is buying Russian crude without the involvement of sanctioned entities, Chairman A S Sahney told reporters on the sidelines of the conference on Tuesday.
Sorokin said the sanctions are illegal and have taken a huge toll on the global economy.
"Tens of billions of dollars have been taken away from developing economies, and they have also increased the cost of capital for everyone in this industry," he said.
"Sanctions have added an element of uncertainty in a sector like energy where projects have very long lead times."
He added that Russia has the technology necessary to develop its resources and will continue to be a major global player. France in advanced talks to buy Indian rocket launcher system: Indian official (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 11:06 AM, Shivam Patel, 9355K]
France is in advanced talks with India to buy a multi-barrel rocket launcher system, a top Indian official has said – a potential deal that would be the first time India’s second-largest arms supplier buys weapons from New Delhi.
India is the world’s biggest arms importer, but has been trying to boost local production to meet its defence requirements and has been steadily raising its defence exports.
The domestically made Pinaka rocket system with a range of up to 90km (56 miles) was shown to a French delegation in India around three months ago and was found to be satisfactory, a second official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"France is in active talks for Pinaka," Ummalaneni Raja Babu, the director general of missiles and strategic systems at India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, said on the sidelines of the Aero India aerospace exhibition in the southern city of Bengaluru on Monday.
"A deal has not been reached yet, but the talks are continuing," he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to France on Monday to co-chair an artificial-intelligence summit in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and both leaders are expected to hold bilateral talks on Tuesday.It was not immediately clear if the rocket system will feature in the talks, and India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.France’s embassy in India did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours.France was India’s second-largest arms supplier after Russia between 2019 and 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.The Pinaka rocket launcher system, used by the Indian Army and deployed in the 1999 war between India and Pakistan, is also being enhanced with longer ranges, Babu said. India not expected to lift ban on Chinese investments soon, top government adviser says (Reuters)
Reuters [2/11/2025 1:41 AM, Ashwin Manikandan, 5.2M]
India is not expected to lift a ban on Chinese investments into the country soon, according to remarks by India’s Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday.
"It requires both sides to understand mutual dependence and benefits," he said at an event in Mumbai.
"I don’t think it is something that you’ll expect to see immediate results because both the sides are crossing the river by feeling the stones," he said, when asked about whether India is considering making any changes to its policy on Chinese investments.
India has tightened its scrutiny of investments from Chinese companies since 2020, as relations between the two nuclear giants have soured after clashes between their soldiers on their largely undemarcated Himalayan frontier left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead in June 2020.
Nageswaran said that India has triggered a conversation with China to discuss the growing trade deficit between the two countries.
India is among the top three countries with the largest trade imbalance with China, with a trade deficit of $93 billion to $95 billion, he said. India Doesn’t Plan to Boost Climate Goals After COP29 Finance Outcome (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [2/10/2025 8:27 AM, Shruti Srivastava, Lou Del Bello, and Ishika Mookerjee, 21617K]
India is unlikely to raise its targets for combating carbon emissions after developed nations failed to meet its demands for more financial aid at last year’s COP29 climate summit, according to people familiar with the situation.
The government doesn’t plan to submit an updated version of its climate targets — known as Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement — for several more months as the document is still in the works, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential talks. Today is the official deadline for countries to submit their NDCs to the United Nations.
At the COP29 summit in Baku, rich nations agreed to triple the amount of funding available for developing nations to transition to green energy and adapt to a warmer planet to $300 billion a year through 2035. Indian negotiator Chandni Raina’s outrage at the sum, which she called "paltry" and "not something that will enable conducive climate action," went viral for encapsulating the unhappiness many poor, climate-vulnerable nations had with the meeting’s outcome. Experts say trillions will be needed to help developing nations cope with global warming.
In its updated NDC, India will focus on measures to adapt to more extreme weather and building resilience, the people said. A spokesperson for the ministry of environment did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
India, the world’s third largest polluter after China and the US, is betting on future clean energy to help meet the needs of a growing and increasingly wealthy population. But the nation still relies mainly on fossil fuels, with renewables accounting for only about 2% of its total energy mix.
Its current pledge under the Paris Agreement involves reducing emission intensity — the amount of carbon generated per unit of gross domestic product — by 45% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. Over the same period, India aims to generate half of its power needs from non-fossil fuel sources and plant trees that are able to capture the equivalent of up to 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide. That’s well below the 68% reduction analysts at Climate Action Tracker say is needed over the period to maintain a pathway to 1.5C degrees of warming.
India plans to become carbon-neutral by 2070, a later date than other major emitters. Since announcing the goal in 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that reaching it was conditional on the availability of international finance, with a report calculating that the transition would require $12.4 trillion in foreign investments. Anti-minority hate speech in India rose by 74% in 2024, research group says (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 8:16 AM, Kanishka Singh, 48128K]
Instances of hate speech against minorities in India such as Muslims increased 74% in 2024, a Washington-based research group said on Monday, with incidents ballooning around last year’s national elections.India Hate Lab documented 1,165 instances of what it considered to be hate speech in 2024, compared with 668 a year earlier, that it observed at events such as political rallies, religious processions, protest marches and cultural gatherings."The fact that 2024 was a general election year in India, with polling held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1, played a crucial role in shaping the patterns of hate speech incidents compared to 2023," the group said in a report.India’s embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.The report comes days before a White House meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government is blamed by rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International for the mistreatment of minorities in India.Modi’s government and party have denied being discriminatory and said their policies, such as food subsidy schemes and electrification drives, benefit all Indians.India Hate Lab said a third of hate speech incidents last year occurred from March 16 through June 1 during the height of election campaigning, with May being a "notable peak."The group cited remarks by Modi in April in which he referred to Muslims as "infiltrators" who have "more children."Modi won a third successive term and denied stoking divisions. His Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win a majority and relied on coalition allies to form a government.India Hate Lab said 80% of hate speech incidents last year occurred in states governed by the BJP and its allies.The group, founded by U.S.-based Kashmiri journalist Raqib Hameed Naik, is a project of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington. The BJP has said the group presents a biased picture of India.Rights advocates, in noting the plight of Indian minorities, point to a 2019 citizenship law the U.N. called "fundamentally discriminatory," anti-conversion legislation that challenges the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief, and the 2019 revoking of Muslim majority Kashmir’s special status.They also highlight the demolition of properties owned by Muslims that authorities said were illegally constructed, and a ban on the hijab head covering - commonly worn by Muslim girls and women - in classrooms in Karnataka in line with new school uniform rules when the BJP was in power in that state.India Hate Lab said it used in its report the United Nations’ definition of hate speech: prejudiced or discriminatory language towards an individual or group based on attributes including religion, ethnicity, nationality, race or gender. India Has a Caste System—for Drivers (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal [2/11/2025 12:02 AM, Shan Li and Aakash Hassan, 810K]
When Amrita Mishra passed the bar exam, she rushed out to pick up one of the biggest perks of being a lawyer in India: an “Advocate” sticker to slap on the window of her car.
The decal, which includes a symbol of a white collar that lawyers wear in the country’s top courts, comes with superpowers, said Mishra. It keeps the traffic police off her back and scares male drivers who think women should concede right of way on the road. “They look startled and back off,” she said.
Driving in New Delhi can be chaotic, but adding to the madness is an unusual caste system that gives unofficial preference to some less-than-essential workers. Lawyers, government officials, journalists and even retired military officers are among a set of professionals who adorn their private vehicles with decals to publicize their occupations and the special status they say it confers.
Not surprisingly, the practice is controversial. There are generally no laws that give preference to drivers with certain professions, outside of a few exceptions such as doctors, and some states have banned the use of stickers in private vehicles. But enforcement has been spotty.
The popularity of stickers—and the deference they can inspire—is partly a reflection of India’s longstanding caste system, in which some people command respect and others are scorned based on a social status determined at birth, said Surinder Jodhka, a professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
The educated class, especially in professions like law and media, want to flaunt their status in the hierarchy, he said. Same with the wealthy and connected.“People self-identify themselves through the car they own and the stickers,” he said. “It needs to be translated into social status.”
Sandeep Tushir blazes through traffic barricades and closed streets. He parks wherever he fancies. When the 36-year-old runs late for school drop-off, he muscles aside other cars on the clogged highways of India’s capital city.
His ticket to freedom? Stickers emblazoned with “Police” plastered all over the front and back windshields.“It makes everything so easy,” Tushir said. “We can navigate anywhere and no one stops us.”
Tushir works in financial services. He borrows his police inspector father’s car whenever he wants to cut through traffic. He printed the police stickers at a shop and affixed them to the windshields of the black SUV. The modifications were acceptable, he figured, because his father really is a cop and occasionally drives the car to a police station.
The stickers were useful during the Covid lockdowns, when most cars were barred from the roads, Tushir said. They also cut down on time spent ferrying his 9-year-old son to school and running errands.“It works so well for our family purposes,” he said. “We get access anywhere.”
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, the common court for the two states in northern India, in 2020 banned the use of unauthorized emblems, including words like army, chairman and vice chairman, in the capital city of Chandigarh. It declared such practices an attempt to “browbeat” other drivers.
Madras High Court, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, issued a similar order in 2022. But after drivers openly flouted the regulations, the city’s police last summer declared war on stickers.
In a statement announcing the crackdown, the police said that the most-concerning stickers identified an affiliation with the press, the state or city government, the state-owned power company, or the police. The police department’s first enforcement action was removing police stickers from cop-owned cars parked at the Police Commissioner’s office, according to local media reports.
But some government officials say they need to jazz up their cars with impressive-looking regalia to get proper respect on the road.
V. P. Singh, the assistant director of health services for the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, kitted out his government-issued car, a plain white sedan, with a bright-red license plate and red stickers stating “Uttarakhand Government.”
Everyone in his department modified their cars to boost the air of authority, he said. Without those obvious signs, he’d miss out on the benefits that come with a government posting, including zero fees on toll roads. “It makes a good impression and you get many perks,” he said.
That hunger for respect on the roads has been turbocharged by the newly wealthy, who yearn for symbols to flaunt their riches and boost their status, said Jodhka, the professor. Many have learned they can climb the pecking order of Delhi traffic by buying bigger, fancier and more expensive vehicles.
Om Prakash, the 70-year-old owner of a car accessories shop, said people used to settle for buying stickers printed with “Govt. of India” or a job like cop or lawyer. But the nouveau riche, he said, have taken to decorating their cars with police sirens and flashing lights.
Four years ago, there was no demand for such accessories, which are illegal for private cars, he said. Now, at least 20 customers a day ask for those upgrades. Many are the wealthy offspring of small-time politicians or political workers. “For rich brats, it’s a way to enjoy their life,” he said.
Sachin Goyal, whose family runs a construction firm, has spent at least $3,000 retrofitting his SUV with flashing red police lights, sirens and tinted black windows.
The 22-year-old says he loves to go joy riding at night with friends, who have all added similar tweaks to their cars. Sometimes, they travel in a convoy 35-cars deep—blasting music and setting off their sirens.“We use it on normal people,” he said. “They think we might be very important people, so they give way to us.” Migration jeopardises Modi’s US charm offensive (Reuters – opinion)
Reuters [2/10/2025 9:34 PM, Shritama Bose, 48128K]
India is pulling out all the stops to be on Donald Trump’s good side. The country has already made tariff concessions and fielded a planeload of deported immigrants ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to meet the U.S. President at the White House. But it is migration, not trade, that will be the sticking point in bilateral relations.Narrowing India’s $35 billion trade surplus with the United States should be manageable. Earlier this month, New Delhi undertook wide-ranging cuts to duties on American imports from Harley Davidson (HOG.N) motorcycles to components used by Apple (AAPL.O) to build smartphones. The country can also pledge to buy more American weapons and oil. Shipments of the latter amounted to $5 billion, or just 4% of bilateral trade, in the year to March 2024.What Modi can offer on migration is far less straightforward. Trump has vowed to deport millions of illegal workers in the country and as of 2022, India was the third-largest source of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. behind Mexico and El Salvador, per data from Pew Research Center.The country also supplies a huge chunk of legal skilled workers: India accounts for 72% of so-called H-1B visas, which allow companies from Amazon (AMZN.O) to Alphabet (GOOGL.O) as well as Indian giants like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) to hire specialised overseas workers such as software engineers. The programme benefits both sides: Big Tech gets access to lower-cost talent while India’s skilled labour can find employment. But visa issuances have shrunk in recent years and the programme is getting an intense backlash from some of Trump’s supporters.A possible deal could see Modi agree to accept deported Indians back into the country without fuss in exchange for U.S. officials to speed up H-1B visas. But a repeat of the spectacle this month of hundreds of handcuffed people alighting from a U.S. military plane would be politically embarrassing, and shines an ugly spotlight on India’s lack of high-quality jobs.The problem for Modi, though, is that he has a weak hand with Trump with the fortunes of India’s top tycoons hanging in the balance. Infrastructure magnate Gautam Adani is battling fraud charges levelled by U.S. federal investigators and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which his Adani group denies. The White House can also squeeze access to cheap Russian oil that helps India to keep inflation low, and which its largest company, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) is processing, or punish India with tariffs for pushing trade transactions in non-dollar currencies. A lot rides on Modi’s U.S. charm offensive.CONTEXT NEWSU.S. President Donald Trump has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the White House during February 12-14, Reuters reported on February 4, citing an unnamed White House official.Separately, India slashed custom duties on motorcycles, such as those from Harley Davidson, with engine capacity of 1,600 cc or more, to 30% from 50% on fully built imports in the government’s annual budget announced on February 1. New Delhi also cut average tariffs to 11% from 13%, Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey told Reuters in an interview after the budget. India and Japan are natural partners for Africa development (Nikkei Asia – opinion)
Nikkei Asia [2/10/2025 3:05 PM, Veda Vaidyanathan, 1286K]
As host this year of the first ever G20 to be held in Africa, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month in Davos described the region as "the next frontier of global growth and productivity." With a young population, unparalleled natural resources and market potential unleashed by the African Continental Free Trade Area, the world is increasingly turning its attention to Africa.Major global actors including the European Union, the U.S., Russia, China, Gulf nations and ASEAN countries are deepening their political and economic relations with the region.India, with its historic ties, has completed over 200 developmental projects in Africa but is now looking to overhaul its approach to the continent. And Japan’s Africa outreach has picked up momentum with the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) scheduled for August in Yokohama, with several events leading up to it, including the Japan-Africa Public-Private Economic Forum held in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan last month.This presents New Delhi with a unique opportunity to reach out to Tokyo with proposals to collaborate in Africa.A Japan-India partnership in Africa would be particularly timely, as both Asian powers are recalibrating their strategies toward the continent. By prioritizing capacity building and utilizing creativity in development partnerships, the twin forces of opportunity and demand are gradually opening up to Asian commercial actors.With over 1,000 Japanese companies already engaged across the continent and the previous government of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida having allocated $30 billion in public and private funds to Africa during the 2022 TICAD, there has been growing interest in Tokyo to invest more in Africa. Likewise, meeting the new India-Africa trade target of $200 billion and investments of $150 billion by 2030 presents immense opportunities for the private sector. For India to achieve this, collaborating with foreign actors is crucial, and Japan would be a natural partner.This change in perspective -- in part fueled by China’s massive inroads into the continent -- has transformed the region’s geopolitics. Beijing is now Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner, with a trade volume of $282 billion in 2023, dominating sectors such as infrastructure. Africa made up over 20% of global revenues for Chinese construction companies, with Chinese contractors accounting for over 60% of projects on the continent. Beijing has also emerged as a leading financier with Chinese lenders supplying over $170 billion in loans to sovereign borrowers in Africa between 2000 and 2022.China is consistently placing priority on Africa in its foreign policy. The 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Beijing in September last year, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently went on a four-country trip to Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria -- part of a 35-year diplomatic tradition of China’s top diplomat making Africa their first overseas visit in the New Year.However, Chinese lenders now account for more than 12% of Africa’s debt, a substantial increase from less than 2% before 2005, and Beijing’s dominance over the region’s value chains, as well as structural imbalances in trade relations, have contributed to rising concerns. For African governments looking to diversify international partnerships, collaborative initiatives from Japan and India would offer alternatives.Further, Africa is crucial to the Japanese and Indian conceptualization of the Indo-Pacific. In a landmark speech to the Indian Parliament 18 years ago, then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talked of the "the confluence of two seas" and described a "dynamic coupling" of the Pacific and Indian oceans where Japan and India, inhabiting a "broader Asia," would incorporate the U.S. and Australia to create a network of free-flowing people, goods, capital and knowledge.This would eventually lead to the conceptualizing of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), an ambitious mega-regional program to connect the two continents. Although heavy in promise, the AAGC failed to produce any concrete results.The concept of India and Japan collaborating in Africa is not, therefore, new. Forms of this are already present. Japanese automakers are exporting made-in-India cars to South Africa, and joint ventures are underway between Japanese and Indian companies to expand into African mini grid markets and telecom and technology sectors.However, to make a more substantive impact, these Asian powers need to leverage their strengths. Discussions with senior Japanese officials indicate an interest among Japanese corporations in working alongside Indian companies that have experience in developing nations. India has distinct advantages, a vast commercial network of Indian-origin local businesses, with granular market intelligence and immense familiarity with operating across diverse African economies. This makes its companies ideal partners for Japanese businesses looking to mitigate risks.Further, the India-Japan partnership, described as "strategic and global," should also recognize the importance of trilateral dialogue with Africa.Take critical minerals for example. Both India and Japan are looking to increase their engagement with producer countries in Africa that hold 30% of global reserves. It would be transformational to work jointly with partners such as the U.S. and the EU to assist African producer countries in developing integrated value chains, including building mining-adjacent infrastructure and processing facilities. This would provide immense opportunity for private sector actors.The stretch from Asia to Africa was once described by Abe as the "main artery for global growth and prosperity." As the "India-Japan Vision 2025" turns 10 years old, and as Vision 2035 will be calibrated, Africa should form the crux of these global partnerships. While the AAGC serves as a cautionary note, the opportunity to extend the "confluence of seas" to Africa could make the India-Japan global partnership truly meaningful. NSB
Fresh Wave of Violence as Bangladesh’s Ousted Ex-Leader Addresses Nation (New York Times)
New York Times [2/10/2025 4:14 PM, Saif Hasnat and Anupreeta Das, 831K]
Bangladesh is facing a fresh bout of violence as members of a student protest movement that toppled the authoritarian government of Sheikh Hasina in August clashed again with her supporters, highlighting the fragility of a country struggling to rebuild itself.
The violence started on Wednesday, after the Awami League, the political party of Ms. Hasina, the former prime minister, said that she would address the students and citizens of Bangladesh via audio from India, where she has been based since her Aug. 5 ouster. Student protesters said the virtual speech would instigate violence. Thousands of students then bulldozed and set fire to a museum that had once been the residence of Ms. Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a founder of Bangladesh.
Clashes between student protesters and supporters of the Awami League lasted three days before the interim government led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus instituted “Operation Devil Hunt,” bringing in Bangladesh police and paramilitary forces on Saturday to crack down on sympathizers. The Awami League has threatened to protest against the students’ actions.
After Ms. Hasina’s live speech in which she reminded Bangladeshis of the sacrifices her father had made and how the country had flourished during her tenure, protesters and Awami League supporters in the Dhaka area began attacking one another. Mr. Yunus began the police operation on Feb. 8, after reports of spiraling violence and injuries.“The government is urging all the citizens to abide by the law,” Mr. Yunus said in a statement. “The new Bangladesh we are working together to build, moving away from the old Bangladesh under fascist rule, will be distinguished by following the rule of law.”
Officials said more than 1,300 people had been arrested since the latest round of violence erupted — mostly from the Awami League — and things were calm for now. Although the interim government has sought to ban Ms. Hasina’s party, the Awami League is trying to reassert itself. Members recently called for protests and strikes this month. They have tried to tag student groups as Islamist militants, comparing them to supporters of Pakistan during Bangladesh’s war of independence from it.
The recent descent into violence in Bangladesh threatens to destabilize the effort by university students to build a new democracy with free and fair elections, calling for a Constitution immune to manipulation and governance without corruption. What started as a revolt in July against a system of reserving jobs for the descendants of freedom fighters erupted into widespread anger at Ms. Hasina, who had become increasingly authoritarian during her 15-year rule.
More than 800 people died during the student revolution last summer, according to officials. To avenge their deaths, the Yunus government has repeatedly sought Ms. Hasina’s extradition from India to be tried for crimes against humanity. India has yet to provide a response.
Ms. Hasina has participated in Awami League meetings virtually, according to videos posted on Facebook and other clips of her speeches. But her first public address was on Feb. 5.
The day after Ms. Hasina’s audio broadcast, the Yunus government said in a statement that she had “insulted and disrespected” those who had given their lives in last summer’s uprising. “Despite the fact that she fled the country, she continues to use the same tone of threats, as she used to when she was in power through corruption, terror and inhuman repression,” the statement read. Bangladesh arrests 1,300 in crackdown on pro-Hasina protests (Deutsche Welle)
Deutsche Welle [2/10/2025 7:33 AM, Roshni Majumdar, 13448K]
Bangladesh police arrested more than 1,300 people amid reports of mob violence over the weekend.
Tensions have flared since mass protests brought down the government of embattled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year.
Last week, demonstrators destroyed the house of her father and the founding father of the country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The attack was sparked by a speech that Hasina planned to give supporters from exile in India.
A cycle of vengeance
"There is anger because of her actions and refusal to atone for them ... People are angry about repression and corruption," Michael Kugelman, an expert on South Asia politics, told DW.
Some of Hasina’s supporters have tried to gather at buildings that represent her government but have been attacked by critics.
The student-led movement that overthrew Hasina’s government has voiced plans to dismantle the country’s 1972 Constitution, which they argue embodies the legacy of her father’s rule.
Hasina’s government was accused of years of repressive rule and her ouster came after weeks of relentless protests and clashes with security forces.
Interim government arrests more than a thousand people.
The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, appealed for calm following the attack on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s house.
Hours later, members of the main student-led movement that ousted Hasina were attacked in the district of Gazipur near Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, and students demanded action.
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, head of the Interior Ministry in the interim government, vowed the operations will continue "until we uproot the devils.".
Police spokesman Inamul Haque Sagar said more than "1,308 people were arrested across the country." Some observers have voiced concerns operations like these could lead to more instability. Bangladesh opposition says government aims to hold polls by December (Reuters)
Reuters [2/11/2025 2:37 AM, Sudipto Ganguly, 5.2M]
Bangladesh is working towards holding general elections by December, the party of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said after some of its officials held a meeting with Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the interim government.
The South Asian nation has been in charge of a caretaker government led by Nobel Peace laureate Yunus since August, when mass protests forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to neighbouring India.
Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and rival Hasina’s Awami League have governed Bangladesh for most of the past three decades.
The BNP expects Yunus to soon announce a roadmap for general elections, its secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, told reporters.
"We have once again pressed them on this matter," he said on Monday. "He (Yunus) told us that they are working to hold the election by December."
There was no comment on the meeting from the interim administration.
It is the most specific date since prior suggestions by Yunus of possible timeframes for the end of 2025 or the middle of 2026. The BNP was among parties pushing for early elections, which it had urged to be held by August.
Last week, thousands of protesters set fire to the residence of Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after Hasina, his daughter, called on supporters to stand against the interim government.
At the time Yunus’ press office said the protesters’ attack on Rahman’s residence was unintended and unwanted, coming as a response to Hasina’s "violent" behaviour.
"The government cannot evade responsibility for these incidents," Alamgir said after the BNP delegation met Yunus on Monday. "Those incidents happened in front of law enforcement and other government agencies."
During the meeting, the interim government said it was taking steps necessary to rein in prices, after the BNP raised the issue of high inflation, Alamgir added.Inflation stood at 9.94% in January, government data show. In a monetary policy report on Monday, the central bank said it expected inflation to decline in the coming months. Bangladesh students who brought down government enter political arena (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [2/10/2025 10:05 PM, Masum Billah, 1286K]
University professor Rabiul Alam was among the thousands gathered at a rally in Bangladesh’s capital in late December to mark the end of a transformative year for the South Asian nation. The event in Dhaka was organized by a student group that had spearheaded a mass uprising which ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina months earlier, ushering in a caretaker government set on remaking the country’s democracy.Now, the movement that brought down Hasina -- who faces accusations of rights abuses and corruption during her 15-year tenure -- is set to launch a new political party, with an eye to smashing the longtime duopoly held by Hasina’s Awami League and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).Alam traveled from the port city Chittagong, about 250 kilometers southeast of Dhaka, to support what the students are calling a "new political settlement.""We are ready to back a transparent and fair political party," he told Nikkei Asia. "If [they] evolve into a political party with something fresh to attract the youth -- an appealing manifesto, a genuine connection with the people -- I believe they’ll garner spontaneous public support."The students’ success in this new political arena remains to be seen. And some have raised concerns about their connections to resurgent Islamist parties in the Muslim-majority nation.But the movement’s leaders say they’ve been campaigning across the country of 171 million with a message focused on "human dignity" and overhauling Bangladesh’s political systems, including the constitution, which they argue had long legitimized the Awami League.The interim government, led by microcredit pioneer and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has vowed to shut Hasina’s party out of elections, which could be held by the end of this year. The new government is also reportedly mulling an outright ban on the Awami League."The response from the people has been overwhelmingly positive. They tell us, ‘You toppled Hasina; only you can build a new Bangladesh,’" said Akhtar Hossain, a top student leader, adding that the new party would contest all of the country’s 300 parliamentary seats."Our politics will be policy-driven. We will practice interparty democracy, prioritize the human dignity of citizens, empowering them to speak out against corruption ... and injustice. We aim to foster just governance and elevate the citizens’ sense of rights and accountability," Hossain added.After independence in 1971, Bangladesh saw years of military governments. By the early 1990s, a fledgling democracy set in with the Awami League and the BNP -- led by Hasina’s nemesis and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia -- trading nearly equal time in power.But national polls in 2014, boycotted by the BNP and other opposition parties, were tainted by claims of election rigging that dogged the ruling party for years.Hasina secured a fourth consecutive term in the 2024 vote, which was again boycotted by the opposition. Then a protest against public-sector job quotas mushroomed into a movement that forced Hasina from power.She quickly fled to longtime ally India, which has yet to accept Dhaka’s demand to extradite the 77-year-old back to Bangladesh to face charges, including allegations of murder and kidnapping.Last week, thousands of protesters set fire to the former home of Bangladesh’s founding president, the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is also Hasina’s father. The protest came as Hasina delivered an angry social media speech calling on supporters to turn against the caretaker government.Before Hasina was deposed, the rival BNP also took to the streets to demand free and fair elections, and has claimed that more than 1,000 of its members were killed during her tenure.More than 800 people are thought to have been killed in clashes between protesters and Hasina’s security forces last summer."What set us apart from the BNP and other political parties is our consistent presence on the ground," said Mahfuj Alam, a student leader now serving as an adviser in the Yunus-led interim government. "While others fled, we stayed, even as bodies fell."The memory of the uprising is still fresh and people sympathize with the students for leading it, said Syeda Salina Aziz, a fellow of politics and governance at Dhaka’s BRAC Institute of Governance and Development."However, the success of their political movement will depend on how well they connect with the people and fulfill their aspirations," she added.Yunus’ government created a half dozen reform commissions to propose changes to key institutions, including the electoral system, police, judiciary and anti-corruption agency. Among their recommendations is a two-term limit for future Bangladeshi leaders.It’s not clear who will helm the students’ party, set to be announced this month. But Hossain said a pool of qualified people are being brought together to form its leadership."All the gems will be gathered to form a garland," he said. "There will be no individual leadership in our party, as we are advocating for leadership by many."Dhaka-based political analyst Dilara Choudhury cautioned against that strategy, saying the students would need a "charismatic leader" and a program that resonates with the electorate to be a success in Bangladeshi politics."A leader capable of effectively communicating the program to the public is key. If they can achieve that, they have a bright future. Students are popular now and people may be drawn to a new party, as they have grown weary of the BNP-Awami League duopoly," she said.For its part, the BNP said it was not opposed to a new rival on the political scene. But BNP Organizing Secretary Shama Obaed added that the new party could be tainted by the students’ close connections to the caretaker government.The students had asked Yunus -- who had never been a politician -- to lead the country after Hasina’s fall, and several were appointed to top jobs in his new government.Hossain, however, dismissed conflict-of-interest concerns."We are building a political party that represents the genuine interest and enthusiasm of the people," he said. "The emergence of a new party sometimes creates a crisis for the existing ones." Bangladesh seeks full power supply restoration from Adani plant (Reuters)
Reuters [2/10/2025 11:27 PM, Krishna N. Das, 48128K]
Bangladesh has asked Adani Power to fully resume supplies from its 1,600-megawatt plant in India after more than three months of reduced sales, a Bangladesh official said, when supplies were halved due to low winter demand and payment disputes.
Adani, which signed a 25-year contract under former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2017, has been supplying power from its $2 billion plant in India’s Jharkhand state. The plant, with two units each of 800 megawatts capacity, sells exclusively to Bangladesh.
The Indian company halved supply to Bangladesh on October 31 due to payment delays as the country battled a foreign exchange shortage. This led to the shutdown of one unit on November 1, resulting in the plant operating at about 42% capacity.
Subsequently, Bangladesh told Adani to keep supplying only half the power.
The state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said it had been paying $85 million a month to Adani to clear outstanding dues and has now told the company to resume supply from the second unit.
"As per our requirement today, they have planned to synchronise the second unit, but due to the high vibration, it didn’t happen," BPDB Chairperson Md. Rezaul Karim told Reuters, referring to some technical problems that stopped the unit from restarting on Monday.
"Right now, we are making a payment of $85 million per month. We are trying to pay more, and our intention is to reduce the overdue. Now there is no big issue with Adani.".
An Adani Power spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In December, an Adani source said BPDB owed the company about $900 million, while Karim said at the time the amount was only about $650 million.
The pricing dispute revolves around how power tariffs are calculated, with the 2017 agreement pricing off an average of two indexes. Adani’s power costs Bangladesh about 55% more than the average of all Indian power sold to Dhaka, Reuters has reported.
A Bangladesh court has ordered an examination of the contract with Adani by a committee of experts, with results expected this month. This could potentially lead to contract renegotiations.
Last year, Bangladesh’s interim government accused Adani of breaching the power-purchase agreement by withholding tax benefits that the Jharkhand plant received from New Delhi, Reuters reported in December citing documents. Bangladesh officials also said they were reviewing the contract.
A spokesperson for Adani told Reuters at the time that it had upheld all contractual obligations with Bangladesh and had no indication Dhaka was reviewing the contract.
Karim has not replied to Reuters’ questions on whether the two sides have resolved their differences.
In November, U.S. prosecutors indicted Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and seven other executives for their alleged role in a $265 million bribery scheme in India. Adani Group has called the U.S. allegations "baseless".
In September, the Bangladesh government appointed a panel of experts to examine major energy deals signed by Hasina, who fled to New Delhi in August after deadly student-led protests. How Will US Foreign Aid Freeze Affect Nepal? (The Diplomat)
The Diplomat [2/10/2025 3:59 AM, Birat Anupam, 857K]
An executive decision by the Trump administration in Washington, D.C. to freeze foreign aid for 90 days and a potential shutdown of USAID has created ripple effects in the faraway Himalayan republic of Nepal. The decision will impact Nepal’s development, diplomacy, and geopolitics.
On January 25, USAID formally contacted Dhaniram Sharma, the head of the International Economic Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Finance, notifying him of the pause in all ongoing U.S. grants to Nepal. Two days later, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced that the Development Objective Agreement (DOAG) signed between Nepal and USAID on May 5, 2022, was being halted for 90 days. The agreement includes four "On-Budget On-Treasury" programs for health, agriculture, education, and inclusion.
According to Nepal’s Ministry of Finance data, of the $695 million worth of USAID-supported projects in Nepal, $411 million was committed in the last fiscal year.
Former Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey said that the U.S. aid freeze will have both immediate and long-term impacts on Nepal. "Nepal established diplomatic relations with the U.S. even before it did so with its immediate neighbors — India and China. This uniqueness was reflected in U.S. aid to Nepal," he told The Diplomat. "The self-centered foreign policy" of the Trump administration, is downgrading, if not fully shutting down, aid, Pandey pointed out.
Ram Prashad Subedi, chairperson of the NGO Federation of Nepal, an umbrella organization of Nepali NGOs, many of which are directly bankrolled by USAID, said the "unexpected decision by the U.S. government has badly hit all U.S.-funded projects and NGO programs in Nepal and would deal a major blow to projects in child health, nutrition, environment, and climate change, in particular." Around 1,500 people have lost their jobs following the U.S. foreign aid freeze announcement, he said.
"The U.S. has been Nepal’s major donor since 1954 and even today it is the largest grant provider in Nepal, including both governmental and non-governmental channels. Even in the Cold War era, it was ahead of its competitor, the Soviet Union, in aiding Nepal," award-winning economic journalist Gajendra Budhathoki told The Diplomat, pointing out that the aid freeze will make the U.S. "less visible in Nepal.".
"The U.S. withdrawal from WHO, together with the potential freeze of over a dozen health-related programs, will create problems in Nepal’s health sector," Budhathoki added.
Veteran media researcher Ujjwal Acharya told The Diplomat that "the pause on the funds to Nepal will slow its advancement towards achieving an impactful civic space, and its efforts to fight the threats of misinformation.".
Besides the aid freeze, Trump’s order recognizing only two genders — male and female — has Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community worried. Sunil Babu Panta, a sexual rights activist and Asia’s first openly gay parliamentarian, said that Nepal’s 15 plus LGBTQ+ organizations will lose their steady funds and over 300 members of the community could lose their jobs. "While this will impact U.S.-funded organizations, projects and jobs, it will not impact the entire LGBTQI community as condoms are affordable, anti-retroviral therapy for HIV and sexual health programs are already included in the government budget," Panta said.
However, some have welcomed the U.S. aid freeze. A former minister and influential leader of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist, who spoke to The Diplomat on condition of anonymity, said that "USAID had invested huge sums of money in political parties, the parliament, newsrooms, and courtrooms and created outsize influence in poor, aid-hungry remittance-run Nepal.".
"Foreign aid cuts on social engineering will make Nepali institutions stronger and independent," he said.
However, the aid freeze will not apply to the $500 million Millennium Challenge Corporation program. Nepal joined the MCC in 2017 and its parliament ratified the agreement in 2022. An additional $50 million was added to the Millennium Challenge Account-Nepal compact recently.
Its aid to Nepal over the past 74 years has made the U.S. omnipresent in the Himalayan country. From establishing the framework of Nepal’s first university, Tribhuvan University, to the eradication of malaria in Nepal’s southern plains, from modernizing the government’s accounting system to the pioneering land reforms in Nepal — the U.S. was everywhere. The pause in its aid to Nepal will make the U.S. less visible and less powerful.
Who will fill the vacuum? It could be plugged either by China or India, or the European allies of the United States. ‘Total chaos’: Monkey blamed for nationwide power cut in Sri Lanka (The Guardian)
The Guardian [2/10/2025 4:47 AM, Penelope MacRae, 57114K]
A countrywide power outage in Sri Lanka has been blamed on a monkey that clambered into a power station south of Colombo.The blackout, which began around midday on Sunday, left many people sweltering in temperatures exceeding 30C (86F).“A monkey came into contact with our grid transformer, causing an imbalance in the power system,” the energy minister, Kumara Jayakody, told reporters.Engineers scrambled to restore power in the island nation of 22 million people, prioritising critical facilities such as hospitals and water purification plants. While some areas regained electricity within hours, many households without generators remained in the dark well into the night.On social media, Sri Lankans likened the incident to a slapstick comedy, while others highlighted the fragility of Sri Lanka’s power grid. “One monkey = total chaos. Time to rethink infrastructure?” one user wrote. “Only in Sri Lanka can a monkey knock out the entire nation’s electricity,” another joked.Beyond the internet memes, the outage underscored Sri Lanka’s ongoing struggles with energy security. Experts have long warned that the country’s power grid is outdated and vulnerable to disruptions.“The national power grid is in such a weakened state that frequent island-wide power outages may be expected if there is a disturbance in one of our lines,” an unnamed senior engineer was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.Sri Lanka is no stranger to power shortages. In 2022, amid a deep economic crisis, rolling blackouts became a grim reality as fuel shortages forced authorities to ration electricity for up to 13 hours a day.The Ceylon Electricity Board issued an apology for the Sunday blackout but did not explain how one incident could have had such widespread repercussions. There was no word on the fate of the monkey.Monkeys have become an increasing problem in Sri Lanka due to their booming numbers. As humans encroach on forested areas, the animals raid villages in search of food and destroy crops. The endemic toque macaque is estimated to number between 2 and 3 million on the island. Central Asia
Turkey, Turkmenistan agree gas supply deal for March (Reuters)
Reuters [2/11/2025 5:34 AM, Ece Toksabay and Huseyin Hayatsever, 48128K]
Turkey and Turkmenistan have signed an agreement to facilitate the flow of Turkmen natural gas to Turkey, marking a significant step in energy cooperation between the two nations, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Tuesday.The deal, between Turkey’s state-owned pipeline operator BOTAS and Turkmenistan’s Turkmengaz, aims to begin gas flow on March 1, he said.Turkey consumes more than 50 billion cubic metres of gas per year. It relies on a mix of piped gas from Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran, along with LNG imports from various suppliers."With this agreement, which we have been working on for many years, we will further advance the strategic cooperation between the two countries while strengthening the natural gas supply security of our country and region," Bayraktar said in a statement.The minister had previously said Turkey could buy up to 2 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Turkmenistan, with the gas expected to be transported via Iran’s existing natural gas network.Specific details regarding the volume of gas to be supplied under the new agreement and the exact terms of transit through Iran were not disclosed. ‘It risks becoming a Venice in the desert’: The dark side of Uzbekistan’s tourism boom (BBC)
BBC [2/10/2025 8:00 AM, Catherine Bennett, 76163K]
The Uzbekistan government is on an ambitious tourism drive – but is sparring with heritage experts over how to protect its historical sites.
The sound of a jackhammer rattles through the air. In Bukhara, a former trading hub on the ancient Silk Road in what is now Uzbekistan, tourism is the new commerce and new hotels are popping up on every street corner. I’ve counted three construction sites in a 100m radius outside the former caravanserai where I’m staying, and I observe the progress of a guesthouse being built just metres from a 16th-Century madrasa (school).
It’s a trend that’s visible across the country. In the capital, Tashkent, construction work for a shopping mall lines the avenue leading up to the Hazrati Imam mosque complex, next to the shiny, almost-completed Centre for Islamic Civilisation. The small historic city of Khiva, surrounded by mud fortifications, cannot expand outwards – but mud-and-straw residences in the historic centre are being knocked down and replaced by modern hotels. It is perhaps most obvious in Samarkand, where billionaire businessman Bakhtiyor Fazilov has poured money into flashy projects to raise his home city’s profile, such as a new airline, an international airport that opened in 2022 and the strange Disneyland facsimile Silk Road Samarkand, a soulless and sanitised tourist resort situated outside the city.
"The concept of the Silk Road is being applied to everything," said Svetlana Gorshenina, a researcher and member of the Uzbek heritage protection association Alerte Héritage. "You have Silk Road restaurants, Silk Road shops, Silk Road tours, tourist agencies uniquely dedicated to the Silk Road. It has become our only selling point and it’s self-exoticising. It’s a kind of self-orientalisation, which is a hangover from colonialism.".
The thing is: it’s working. The World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index now ranks Uzbekistan at 78th out of 119 countries, moving up 16 places in the last five years. The Uzbek government is ploughing investment into its tourism sector after the country’s president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, laid out his Uzbekistan 2030 strategy in September 2023, an enormous governmental plan detailing the goals to be achieved in various sectors by that date. That includes increasing the number of foreign tourists to 15 million, more than double the 6.6 million visitors to the country in 2023. He has also called for the creation of "tourist clusters" – complexes providing accommodation and other services for tourists in one place.
One of these new clusters is the reason I’ve come to Bukhara. It’s a 33-hectare site on the fringes of the old town on which a leisure complex called Eternal Bukhara will soon be built. Samarkand tycoon Fazilov has a hand in this project too: he’s the chairman of one of Uzbekistan’s largest contractors, Enter Engineering, which is building the complex. The company is cagey about its actual plans for the site – not least because it has already proven quite contentious.
Initial plans reported in the local press described it as an "ethnographic park" that would recreate traditional Uzbek buildings such as chaikhanas (teahouses), as well as restaurants serving Uzbek cuisine and a museum about Uzbek culture. But the 3D renderings pasted on the high walls that surround the construction site show instead blocky, modernist shopping arcades and glimmering pools adorned with abstract art.
"We’re not trying to replicate historic buildings. We don’t want to repeat history – but to create something that will have its own impact," Rustam Khaydarov, the deputy general director of Enter Engineering, told me, as we sat in a portacabin in the construction site with excavators and diggers whirring nearby. "It will be a place where people can relax, with cafes and a cultural centre for local artists to display their art. And about 70% of it will remain a green site.".
Enter Engineering also plans to build a number of five-star hotels, with up to 700 rooms on site. "Wealthy people already come to Bukhara but are dissatisfied with the quality of the hotels. So we want to improve the class of hotels on offer," he said. There will also be medical facilities to cater to a new type of tourist that Uzbekistan is trying to attract: visitors who come for cheap healthcare, from dentistry to plastic surgery.
This area used to be Bukhara’s administrative zone, with government offices and a large public sports arena. The demolition of the sports stadium im 2024 provoked a public outcry (which is rare in Uzbekistan, a country where public dissent is swiftly silenced), and Enter Engineering responded by building three more sports facilities on the town’s outskirts. The site is ringed by a road, beyond which there are drab and semi-dilapidated residential apartment blocks, with many ground-floor spaces for businesses unoccupied. Although it’s just a short walk to Bukhara’s tourist sites and monuments, it feels a world away from the relentless tourism of the city centre.
"For years, Uzbekistan has been undergoing a process of emptying city centres of their inhabitants," explained Gorshenina. "We are witnessing a transformation of towns into museum-towns that are made for tourists. In Bukhara, you already have this ‘tourist zone’ that is clearly separate from the rest of the town where residents live. It’s become an open-air museum.".
An Uzbek architect, who did not want to be named for this article but whom I met in his office in Bukhara, told me, "Every year, there are more and more tourists. I have always thought of Bukhara as a living organism, and that organism is becoming very weak and fragile. It should not become a town solely for tourists but for its residents as well. It risks becoming a Venice in the desert.".
Alerte Héritage is fiercely opposed to the Eternal Bukhara project, in part because it says that locals were not consulted about the use of the space, and also because of the loss of important Soviet-era architecture, such as a government building that was the former regional headquarters of the Communist Party, built in 1987. It was torn down in early 2024.
The Uzbek architect said that the current government was repeating mistakes from the Soviet era. "The Soviet Union destroyed a lot of heritage and replaced it with Soviet buildings because it wanted to leave its own imprint. That tradition of demolition is still – unfortunately – in our blood.".
Although Eternal Bukhara is not within the historical centre that is classified as a Unesco World Heritage site, it falls within the "buffer zone", which still requires Unesco validation before urban changes can be made. When contacted, Monia Adjiwanou, a spokesperson for Unesco, said that they were "closely monitoring" the situation, adding: "We hope that the authorities will comply with their commitments to the World Heritage Convention and that they will not carry out any demolition/construction project without the prior assessment of the World Heritage Committee in July 2025.".
Demolition on the Eternal Bukhara site is visibly ongoing, with only a handful of buildings still standing. That seems problematic for Unesco – even more so as the international organisation plans to host this year’s General Conference in Uzbekistan, which would be the first time since 1986 that the annual meeting has been held outside Paris.
"Unesco is toothless, without principles. What has it really done for Central Asia, for Uzbekistan?" asked the Uzbek architect. Both he and Alerte Héritage are unconvinced by Unesco’s warnings to Enter Engineering. Khaydarov, however, assured me that the company will not launch any building work until they get Unesco’s green light – which means that they could still be waiting for months before construction is able to begin.
"We don’t want the city’s image to be damaged," Khaydarov said. "This is a reputational issue. But we chose this area because it’s in the buffer zone and we are confident we will get Unesco’s approval to continue.".
He also insisted that locals support the plans, describing it as "a social project" rather than a commercial one. "We will create minimum 15,000 jobs with this site," he promised.
Uzbekistan’s headlong rush into the world of mass tourism could well create thousands of jobs and boost the country’s economy – but it risks bulldozing or damaging both the country’s ancient heritage and vestiges of its more recent history. You only have to walk through Bukhara’s covered bazaars that were once filled with Uzbek silk and crafts and are now teeming with imported, mass-produced goods to get a feel for what the country may look like in just a few years. Twitter
Afghanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Afghanistan@MoFA_Afg
[2/10/2025 5:03 AM, 73.4K followers, 71 retweets, 229 likes]
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan unequivocally condemns the Israeli occupying leader’s statements,rejecting the establishment of independent Palestinian state & suggesting the establishment of Palestinian state on the territory of Saudi Arabia
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 35 retweets, 150 likes]
Did you see this headline about some state department personal services contracts (PSCs) being ordered canceled? Well, that’s another thing that will absolutely grind to a halt #EnduringWelcome relocations of our #Afghan allies. Another #AfghanEvac explainer
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 7 retweets, 23 likes]
This week, @StateDept leadership announced they would ending PSC contracts by not entering into new ones and not extending the existing contracts. They believe these to be bad, and that’s a policy decision for them to make, but the impact is important. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/state-department-fires-contractors
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 3 retweets, 22 likes]
A Personal Services Contract (PSC) is a type of temp contract the U.S. government uses to fill urgent staffing needs. PSCs let agencies hire people quickly, often for specialized roles, but they lack the stability of permanent positions. Cutting them can disrupt critical work.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 2 retweets, 25 likes]
The Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) is the primary hub of relocation work within the State Department. It is nested under the South and Central Asia (SCA) Bureau which reports up to the secretary through the Undersecretary for Political Affairs (P).
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 2 retweets, 21 likes]
The thing about #EnduringWelcome relocations: the work is inherently interagency and interdepartmental. CARE works with all the various bureaus within state, and departments / agencies outside of state, to align the very complex work involved in relocations. And it’s not easy.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 1 retweet, 22 likes]
One other important thing about CARE is that it’s brand spanking new. It didn’t become a permanent part of the state department structure until October 2022, aligning with the rollout of #EnduringWelcome. It takes time to staff a new, permanent part of the bureaucracy.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:21 AM, 30.5K followers, 1 retweet, 17 likes]
So how does all of that fit in to personal services contracts? Well because CARE is new, many of the staff there are PSCs. Over time, positions were being converted to civil service and foreign service officer roles, but that takes time (because HR is very bad in the USG).
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:21 AM, 30.5K followers, 1 retweet, 17 likes]
The reason for this is tied mostly to how state department fills billets across their sprawling bureaucracy. Filling CARE, an office with an urgent and critical need, with PSCs in the short term was a good idea. The Biden admin SHOULD have converted the roles faster.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:21 AM, 30.5K followers, 1 retweet, 17 likes]
But they didn’t. So even though it’s a good idea to fully reform how hiring works there, this action stands to result in lives and many jobs lost.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:20 AM, 30.5K followers, 7 retweets, 39 likes]
With no PSCs, processing slows. Cases get stuck. Families remain in limbo. Allies who risked their lives for the U.S. are left behind. That’s the human cost of this decision. So it’s up to @potus and @SecRubio to make sure these roles get converted and fully funded.
Shawn VanDiver@shawnjvandiver
[2/10/2025 8:21 AM, 30.5K followers, 6 retweets, 34 likes]
And that’s why this PSC issue could be yet another avoidable thing that throws a wrench in the works for our allies. Another (we assume) unintended consequence. One that could be waived or exempted, if the right people understood. So let’s help them understand!
John T. Seward@JohnSewardDC
[2/10/2025 12:31 PM, 616 followers, 44 retweets, 142 likes]
NEW: Republican Veterans in Congress Are Privately Lobbying Trump on Resettling Afghan Allies “You’re talking about the Republicans and Democrats that live underneath the surface, who aren’t overly exposed in the media and social media, trying to actually get something done” https://www.notus.org/republicans/republican-veterans-congress-privately-lobbying-trump-afghan-allies
John T. Seward@JohnSewardDC
[2/10/2025 1:27 PM, 617 followers, 1 retweet, 8 likes]
Didn’t get a chance to talk to him, but I do wonder what Scott Mann (@RooftopLeader) thinks about this. I saw he posted about meeting with Hegseth about it. Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[2/10/2025 2:04 PM, 6.7M followers, 116 retweets, 428 likes]
The reports of a tragic boat incident off the coast of Libya, carrying 65 people, including Pakistani nationals, are deeply concerning. I have directed the Foreign Office, and our Mission in Libya to ascertain facts at the earliest and keep the nation fully informed.
Government of Pakistan@GovtofPakistan
[2/10/2025 11:37 PM, 3.1M followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
The International Day of Women and Girls in Science underscores the urgent need for inclusive policies that enable women to thrive in scientific careers, driving global progress and innovation. The Government of Pakistan is committed to fostering an inclusive STEM ecosystem by promoting equal opportunities, encouraging women’s participation in research and investing in initiatives that contribute to national development.
Sidhant Sibal@sidhant
[2/10/2025 1:53 AM, 304.7K followers, 42 retweets, 225 likes]
Pakistan spars with US at UNSC over terror campaigns. After US points recruitment campaigns in Pakistan by ISIS-K, Pakistan representative says no such campaigns in his country. India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[2/11/2025 2:24 AM, 105.2M followers, 546 retweets, 2.9K likes]
Wishing everyone a joyous and blessed Thaipoosam! May the divine grace of Lord Murugan guide us with strength, prosperity and wisdom. On this sacred occasion, I pray for happiness, good health and success for all. May this day also bring peace and positivity into our lives! Vetrivel Muruganuku Arogara!
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[2/11/2025 12:10 AM, 105.2M followers, 1.9K retweets, 8.4K likes]
Sharing my remarks at the @IndiaEnergyWeek. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1jMJgkNjkAXJL
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[2/10/2025 10:00 PM, 105.2M followers, 5.4K retweets, 34K likes]
Here are highlights from the memorable welcome in Paris yesterday. https://x.com/i/status/1889147355448111471
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[2/10/2025 12:07 PM, 105.2M followers, 7.1K retweets, 60K likes]
Landed in Paris a short while ago. Looking forward to the various programmes here, which will focus on futuristic sectors like AI, tech and innovation.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[2/10/2025 10:10 AM, 247.5K followers, 43 retweets, 339 likes]
Many Afghans and Pakistani Islamists scorn Indians, ignoring their shared North Indian heritage. Ironic, considering their forefathers were once Hindu but abandoned their religion, while most Indians remained true to their faith.
Sidhant Sibal@sidhant
[2/10/2025 8:49 PM, 304.7K followers, 637 retweets, 8K likes]
PM Modi congratulates US Vice President JD Vance at Élysée Palace ahead of the dinner hosted by French President Macron https://x.com/i/status/1889129581786911014
Sidhant Sibal@sidhant
[2/10/2025 2:59 AM, 304.7K followers, 2 retweets, 22 likes]
India Is Pivtol To Trump Admin says Mukesh Aghi @MukeshAghi, USISPF @USISPForum President ahead of PM Modi’s Washington visit. Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNujNQLM8lM NSB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[2/10/2025 11:06 AM, 80.6K followers, 20 retweets, 293 likes]
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday asked the SCB global CEO to speak on behalf of Bangladesh, highlighting the reforms being undertaken by the Interim Government since August. #Bangladesh #ChiefAdviser #SCB
Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh@ChiefAdviserGoB
[2/10/2025 10:04 AM, 80.6K followers, 19 retweets, 127 likes]
Chief Adviser Prof. Yunus urges reconciliation after the July uprising ended Sheikh Hasina’s brutal 15-year rule marked by killings and disappearances. #Bangladesh #ChiefAdviser #JulyReconciliation
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[2/11/2025 2:59 AM, 112.1K followers, 13 retweets, 15 likes]
President Dr Muizzu shares a message on International Day of Women and Girls in Science https://presidency.gov.mv/Press/Article/33055
Namal Rajapaksa@RajapaksaNamal
[2/10/2025 11:10 AM, 436.8K followers, 13 likes]
Gamin Gamata initiative in Polonnaruwa, held at the Isurusumana Viharaya in the Bathgampathtuwa division of Hingurakgoda. Grateful for the engagement and support as we continue working towards community-driven progress. #GaminGamataNR #Polonnaruwa #SLPP
Namal Rajapaksa@RajapaksaNamal
[2/10/2025 9:17 AM, 436.8K followers, 15 retweets, 73 likes]
Since Sri Lanka ended the war in 2009, there have been some NGOs operating in the country under the guise of working for war resettlement to strenghtening livelihoods in the poverty struck areas. But local media reports over the years have highlighted that some of these NGOs have been operating unregistered, giving no clue where their funds have been coming from. Following the #USAID exposure by the @POTUS administration, the @PodujanaParty propose to the Speaker of Parliament to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to identify the NGOs - both registered and unregistered - operating in the country and who is funding them. I will be writing a letter to the Speaker tomorrow on behalf of the SLPP, and the SLPP will back this committee if it is appointed. When clearly there is suspicion raised by the #USA Government., #SriLanka should not ignore the warnings and conduct a probe for the benefit and stability of the nation. @elonmusk @RapidResponse47
Sajith Premadasa@sajithpremadasa
[2/10/2025 10:56 AM, 234.4K followers, 39 retweets, 230 likes]
First, they blamed the monkeys. Then, they blamed past governments. But the real issue? A fragile grid that can’t handle solar growth & low-demand periods. Misinformation won’t fix power outages—serious reforms will especially in the power sector. A real system change starts with transparency. Central Asia
Peter Leonard@Peter__Leonard
[2/10/2025 5:07 PM, 21.6K followers, 23 retweets, 33 likes]
The president of Kyrgyzstan hails Elon Musk’s call to shut down RFE/RL (an outlet that has reported extensively on self-dealing by top government figures in Kyrgyzstan)
Emomali Rahmon@EmomaliRahmonTJ
[2/10/2025 10:28 PM, 3.3K followers, 1 retweet, 6 likes]
A decree of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan was signed, according to which 1,787,500 somoni has been allocated for the recognition of 46 winners and prize-winners of international sports competitions and their coaches.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz[2/10/2025 11:40 AM, 211.8K followers, 4 retweets, 21 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev held a meeting to discuss the progress and future priorities of nuclear energy. The goal is to increase the share of "green" energy to over 50% of the country’s generation by 2030. With its own uranium reserves, Uzbekistan plans to establish a sustainable energy base, including the construction of small power reactors. The President emphasized the need to train specialists for upcoming plants and ensure safety according to International Atomic Energy Agency standards.{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.