ROME, 20 March 2022, (TON): UN’s World Food Programme said “aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in Ukrainian cities ringed by Russian forces, including hundreds of thousands of women and children."

Emergency coordinator Jakob Kern told media “the challenge is to get to the cities that are encircled or about to be encircled.”

Lack of humanitarian access is making it almost impossible to deliver emergency food supplies to the besieged port city of Mariupol, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the northeastern city of Sumy.

Kern said “it was a tactic that was unacceptable in the 21st century.”

He said “the Rome-based WFP has had to start the mission to stock up Ukraine’s warehouses from zero.”

The agency hopes to reach 3.1 million people in Ukraine, but efforts to move supplies such as pasta, rice and canned meat around are hampered by difficulties in finding willing truck drivers.

TOKYO, 20 March 2022, (TON): Japan and Turkey foreign ministers on March 19 agreed to cooperate and coordinate on the Middle East and Ukrainian issues and deepen bilateral friendly relations toward the year 2024, the 100th anniversary of establishing their diplomatic ties.

The foreign ministry in Tokyo said in a statement “Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who is visiting Turkey for a short trip that includes the UAE on March 20, exchanged views with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Cavusoglu, on the situation in Afghanistan and East Asia, including China and North Korea, and affirmed that they would continue to coordinate on dealing with North Korea, including the abductions issue.”

The ministry said “the Ministers confirmed to hold the first meeting of maritime consultations in the first half of this year to discuss specific cooperation, and to accelerate negotiations toward the early conclusion of the Japan-Turkey Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the Japan-Turkey Social Security Agreement, and to aim for the opening of the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology in 2023.”

KABUL, 20 March 2022, (TON): Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi said “the Islamic Emirate is inclusive and has fulfilled all the requirements and it should be recognized by the international community.”

Talking to news channel, Muttaqi said “in order to recognize a government, there is a need for border, people, and security. Since we have all of these, we have fulfilled the requirements to be recognized.”

Speaking about Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation, Muttaqi said “there are around 40 million people in Afghanistan and they cannot rely on humanitarian aid forever. “

He added “if we want Afghanistan to be self-sufficient, on top of humanitarian aid we need development aid that creates employment and jobs.”

Some analysts meanwhile said in addition to international recognition, the Islamic Emirate should also take steps inside the country.

NEW DELHI, 20 March 2022, (TON): Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged India's Narendra Modi to take a tougher line on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but a joint statement after talks in Delhi fell short of condemning Moscow's actions.

Unlike fellow members of the Quad alliance Japan, Australia and the US, India has abstained in United Nations votes deploring Russia's actions, calling only for a halt to the violence while still buying Russian oil.

Kishida told “a joint news conference that he and Modi held an in-depth discussion and that Russia's invasion shakes the very foundations of the international order and must be dealt with firmly.

But Modi made no direct mention of Ukraine and their joint written statement afterward called only for an immediate cessation of violence and noted that there was no other choice but the path of dialogue and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict.

KABUL, 20 March 2022, (TON): Fatima Gailani, a member of the negotiating team of the former government, said “the Islamic Emirate should take practical steps and fulfill its commitments to be recognized by the international community.”

Gailani made the remarks in an interview with Turkey's TRT World news channel.

She said “the international community should look into the eye of every single Afghan. If the people of Afghanistan will recognize this government as the Afghan government, as their own government, then the world should recognize it.”

Raising her concerns about the current situation in the country, Gailani said real peace and security have not been maintained in the country.

She added “I see men and women, young and old, they repeat: no war again. They repeat: I want to be part of the future. They want exactly what you want: a peaceful country, a prosperous country, access to education, access to health and facilities.”

KABUL, 20 March 2022, (TON): An official with the UN food agency warned that the ripples of Russia-Ukraine conflict will further increase food and fuel prices in the desperately poor Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban takeover in mid-August, Afghanistan has been sinking deeper into poverty and economic crisis.

As many as 95% of the country’s 38 million people don’t have enough to eat or money to buy the food. Shelley Thakral, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said “food prices in Afghanistan rose nearly 40% over the last eight months.”

Thakral added “the WFP has spent $1 billion feeding millions of Afghans this year but needs another $1.6 billion.”

Thakral said “the worrying thing, I think and this includes Afghanistan as well as all the other hunger spots across the world, is the rise in food and fuel prices.”

So far, donor countries have not sidelined Afghanistan but she said they “have to dig deeper” as Europe deals with the shockwaves of the war and the 3.2 million refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion Feb. 24.

NEW DELHI, 20 March 2022, (TON): Japan aims to invest $42 billion over the next five years in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after a bilateral meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Delhi this evening.

PM Modi announced "Japan will raise its investment target in India to an ambitious 5 trillion yen or ₹ 3.2 lakh crore ($42 billion) over the next five years.”

Mr Kishida, accompanied by a high-level delegation, arrived in Delhi for the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit at around 3:40 pm on his first visit to India as the head of the Japanese government.

The two sides inked six agreements providing for the expansion of bilateral cooperation in a range of areas, besides firming a separate clean energy partnership.

At a joint briefing, PM Modi said deepening India-Japan ties will not only benefit the two countries but will also help in encouraging peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

DHAKA, 20 March 2022, (TON): Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan left Dhaka for Australia at the invitation of Air Marshal MEG Hupfeld, Chief of Air Staff, and Royal Australian Air Force.

An ISPR press release said “the Chief of Air Staff will attend the Air and Space Power Conference 2022 at the National Convention Center in Canberra, Australia.”

This conference will also be attended by Chiefs of Royal Air Force, US Pacific Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Maldives National Defense Force, Sri Lanka Air Force, German Air Force, Indian Air Force, Thai Air Force, Military Advisor of UN Peace Operations, high officials from the Air Force of Qatar, Malaysia and Italy.

The theme of Air and Space Power Conference-2022 is Resilience and Innovation in Air and Space.

The event would focus on innovative approaches of air and space power for ensuring geo strategic security in the Indo-Pacific region amidst rapidly changing global security scenario.

DHAKA, 20 March 2022, (TON): United States Under Secretary for political affairs Victoria Nuland is due here as Dhaka and Washington are set to hold 8th partnership dialogue to deepen the ties coinciding with the 50th year of bilateral relations between the two nations.

Bangladesh foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen and Nuland will lead their respected sides during the dialogue to be held at State Guest House Padma tomorrow morning.

Nuland will arrive in Dhaka first as part of her tri-nation visit to South Asia includes India and Sri Lanka while Bangladesh foreign secretary is scheduled to receive her at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

After holding the 90-min "Partnership Dialogue", Bangladesh foreign secretary and the US Under Secretary will appear in front of the press for a joint briefing to reveal the outcome of their discussion at the state guest house.

DHAKA, 20 March 2022, (TON): Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh has called to promote ‘culture of peace’ at different international forums in line with the foreign policy made by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to restore peace worldwide.

He told the inaugural ceremony of international miniature art festival organized by Gallery Chitrak “we are promoting ‘culture of peace’ to ensure peace globally as a continuation of Bangabandhu’s foreign policy.” 

The foreign minister said “Dhaka still follows the cardinal foreign policy of Bangladesh friendship towards all, malice towards none that was formulated by Bangabandhu as we have always been for peace and we will be.”