DOHA, 30 June 2022, (TON): Chief negotiators from the United States and Iran began indirect talks in Qatar, bidding to remove obstacles that have stalled attempts to revive a landmark nuclear deal.

The indirect negotiations headed by US special envoy Robert Malley and Iran’s Ali Bagheri come after more than a year of European Union-mediated talks in Vienna on a return to the 2015 agreement between Tehran and world powers.

The Doha talks also come just two weeks before US President Joe Biden’s first visit to the region since taking office, when efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be high on the agenda.

A diplomat in the region said “indirect messages have been exchanged between the parties involved.”

Iran’s state news agency IRNA published a photo of Bagheri meeting with the EU coordinator for the talks, Enrique Mora.

MADRID, 30 June 2022, (TON): A commununique published by the NATO summit in Madrid said “NATO has invited Sweden and Finland to become members of the military alliance.”

The communique said “the accession of Finland and Sweden will make them (the allies) safer, NATO stronger and the Euro-Atlantic area more secure,”

It added that the alliance also agreed a new strategic concept.

The communique described Russia as the “most significant and direct threat to the allies’ security,” a reaction to the massively deteriorated relationship to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

MADRID, 30 June 2022, (TON): Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio on Wednesday expressed support for Sweden’s bid to join NATO in a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Magdalena Andersson.

Kishida told Andersson “we support historic decision. We also express our respect for its efforts.”

NATO, which opened a two-day summit in Madrid, is expected to grant membership to Sweden and Finland after Turkey switched to support their participation.

Kishida said “Japan and Sweden will hold the presidency of the Group of Seven major powers and the European Union, respectively, next year.”

KYIV, 30 June 2022, (TON): Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the end of diplomatic ties between Kyiv and Damascus after Moscow ally Syria recognized the independence of eastern Ukraine’s two separatist republics.

The breakaway states of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence Moscow recognized in February, are situated in the Donbas region at the center of Russia’s invasion and have escaped Kyiv’s control since 2014.

Syria provoked Ukraine’s ire after becoming the first state other than Russia to recognize the two separatist republics earlier on Wednesday.

Zelensky said “there will no longer be relations between Ukraine and Syria,”

He added that the sanctions pressure against Syria “will be even greater.”

By TON Research Desk

The whole of Bangladesh has been truly rejoicing after the recent successful inauguration of the historic “Padma Bridge” which will link the south-western part of Bangladesh to its northern and eastern areas with scenarios of unimpeded transport between the two main regions of the country.

Padma Bridge is anticipated to accelerate political, social, economic, administrative, cultural, and overall development by integrating the two regions of the country once it will become operational. With this, the prospects for economic progress are certainly most welcome. The Padma Bridge has become a symbol of Bangladesh's pride, confidence, and self-respect.

The Padma Bridge will not only advance the connectivity between various areas of Bangladesh, but it will also deliver the required logistics and commercial impetus to attach the common areas between India and Bangladesh. This bridge will play a significant role in augmenting sub-regional connectivity.

Through this, the Bangladesh PM clearly wants to get the attention of the Bangladesh People. In the presence of international pressure and domestic criticism, she has succeeded in creating a piece of infrastructure that will transform the lives of the people of Bangladesh.

The plethora of development initiatives in Bangladesh that are being undertaken by the incumbent Bangladeshi prime minister with the help of several nations including China, Russia, and Japan may enable her to become Prime Minister for the fifth time.

After the World Bank pulled out, the government decided to fully fund the two-level steel truss Padma Bridge at a cost of $3.6 billion. Ordinary people donated 5 takas (RS 4.2) and 10 takas (RS 8.4) to an improvised Bridge Fund. A Chinese company won the contract and construction began in late 2014.

The bridge shows demonstrate the incredible marvel of engineering that it is 6.15 km long with 42 pillars that stand like enormous trunks in the choppy waters; a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single railway track on the lower level. This is the longest bridge not just on the Padma, but anywhere on the Ganga River which originates in the Himalayas and whose progeny the former is.

More than anything else, the bridge has boosted the spirit of not the government but of the people also. In 2020, as per the IMF, the actual GDP growth in Bangladesh fell to 3.5 percent, but went up to 5 percent in 2021; in difference, real GDP growth for India in 2020 sank to -6.6 percent, growing to 8.9 percent in 2021. However, after recovering from the pandemic, Bangladesh is on the road to progress to outshine and leave the least developing country (LDC) status.

As per IMF, Bangladesh’s per capita GDP overpassed India in 2020 which was an extraordinary achievement, even though India’s economy is ten times more and its population six times larger, both key factors in the calculation of per capita income ascend gradually from being 50 percent of India’s per capita in 2007 to 70 percent in 2014 and leveling with it in 2020.

The comparison with Pakistan, from its departure in 1971, is even more amazing that Bangladesh’s per capita income is today 37 percent higher. Bangladesh presented a definite elasticity in its labor laws when it became sovereign, which drove its change towards development and reduced its dependence on agrarian. Today, the textile industry contributes 20 percent to the GDP it accounts for 80 percent of Bangladesh’s export while the services sector follows a close second.

Women in the workforce are encouraged, alongside an NGO-government partnership focused on improving socio-economic parameters like infant and maternal mortality, health, sanitation, and drinking water and education. Unlike in India, NGOs are not anathema.

The politically astute Bangladesh PM is keenly aware that NGOs are not going to deliver the economic prosperity that aspirational Bangladeshis demand and which is surely going to underwrite her bid for an unprecedented fifth term in power.

So, over the last 14 years, she has thrown open her nation’s doors to all forms of aid as well as ventures. She has learned the Sri Lanka lesson, which once sought to exclusively woo China, and has diversified the awarding of contracts to a variety of nations.

The Padma Bridge was constructed by a Chinese company; the Rooppur nuclear power plant is being built by the Russians at a cost of $12 billion; the Maitree thermal project at Rampal is a 50:50 joint venture with India’s NTPC; the Dhaka metro is being built with considerable aid from Japan.

A Chinese company is constructing the tunnel under the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong to connect with the Asian Highway; Dhaka’s revamped airport is being funded by the Japanese; a Chinese company will partially build the Payra sea port, while a Belgian company is dredging the 75-km-long channel at Payra.

Significantly, the prime minister of Bangladesh seems acutely aware of the geopolitics at play in her region. She knows it is good to follow China’s economic miracle which pushed it to become Bangladesh’s largest trading partner in 2015, surpassing India. China and Bangladesh signed deals during the Chinese president's 2016 visit totaling $13.6 billion.

So, in 2019, the prime minister of Bangladesh soon after her visit to Beijing, announced that China could use the Chittagong and Mongla ports. A Chinese-built submarine base, which will house two Chinese submarines, is already coming up close by. It is well-known that Bangladeshi defense forces use Chinese frigates, fighter jets, and tanks, making it the second-largest buyer of Chinese arms after Pakistan.

After decades of its independence, Bangladesh has been transformed into an economic success tale story. The prime minster of Bangladesh is fully conscious that the route to the hearts and minds of her people and victory at the 2023 polls will come through economic prosperity. The energetic Bangladesh PM is using the security establishment to keep checks on civil society and the media in order to achieve the goal of a pleasant and successful nation.

DHAKA, 30 June 2022, (TON): Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen is scheduled to arrive in Portuguese capital Lisbon tomorrow to lead the Bangladesh delegation at the 2nd UN Ocean Conference 2022.

A foreign ministry press release said “Bangladesh foreign minister is expected to make the country statement at the plenary session and to participate in the interactive dialogues on the sidelines of the conference.”

Momen is also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Portuguese Foreign Minister Mr. Joao Gomes Cravinho and inaugurate the chancery building of the Bangladesh Embassy in Lisbon.

The 2nd UN Ocean Conference was kicked off in Lisbon with an aim to address many of the challenges through structural transformations and science-based innovative solutions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal-14 which are conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.

DHAKA, 30 June 2022, (TON): A loan agreement was signed between the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank (WB) under which the lending agency will provide US$500 million to modernise the rural electricity distribution system under Dhaka and Mymensingh regions.

Economic Relations Division Secretary Fatima Yasmin and World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Dandan Chen signed the loan agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

WB will provide the US$500 million loan from the IDA-19 Scale-Up Window.

The interest rate of the above mentioned loan is '6-month Libor plus the Variable Spread Service Charge: 0.25 percent front-end fee and commitment charge: 0.25 percent' and this loan has to be repaid in 35 years with a grace period of five years.

DHAKA, 30 June 2022, (TON): The Asian Development Bank and the Government of Bangladesh today signed an agreement for $41.4 million grant to improve the infrastructure and meet up the basic needs of the displaced persons from Myanmar- sheltered in Cox’s Bazar.

The additional assistance forms the second phase of the ADB’s ongoing Emergency Assistance Project worth $100 million in grant approved in 2018.

A press release said “Fatima Yasmin, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, and Edimon Ginting, Country Director of the ADB, signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and the ADB, respectively.”

ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Edimon Ginting said “the assistance will scale up the ongoing project by addressing the unmet basic and urgent needs identified for ADB assistance in 2018 but which remained unfunded due to grant funding constraints.”

JEDDAH, 30 June 2022, (TON): June 28 marked the opening of the Saudi pavilion at the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal, and runs until July 1.

The Saudi pavilion, titled “Blue Saudi,” is aimed at shedding light on the health of the Red Sea and the Kingdom’s leading role in researching its unique habitats and ecosystems, and protecting and regenerating the region.

The 2022 UN Ocean Conference, in its second edition, got underway on June 27 and is co-organized by the governments of Portugal and Kenya.

It aims to inspire a global effort to rebuild marine life, emphasizing the critical role that the oceans play in stabilizing climate systems.

The first edition of the conference was in 2017 and took place at the UN’s headquarters in New York.

NEW DELHI, 30 June 2022, (TON): India successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed high-speed expendable aerial target, ABHYAS, from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur off the Odisha coast, as per a statement.

It said “the performance of the aircraft at low altitude, including sustained level and high maneuverability, was demonstrated during the test flight.”

It added “the target aircraft was flown from a ground-based controller in a pre-designated low-altitude flight path, which was monitored by various tracking sensors deployed by ITR, including radar and an electro-optical targeting system.”

ABHYAS is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The statement said “the air vehicle was launched using twin under-slung boosters, which provide the initial acceleration to the vehicle.”