RIYADH, 29 July 2022, (TON): Saudi Press Agency reported “Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.”

The diplomats discussed bilateral relations and ways to boost cooperation between both countries to serve mutual aspirations.

They also reviewed several regional and international issues of common interest.

DHAKA, 29 July 2022, (TON): Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF's Asia Department said “Bangladesh asked the International Monetary Fund to start talks on a new loan under the creditor's Resilience and Sustainability Trust, which is designed to help countries ensure sustainable growth.”

Bangladesh's $416 billion economy is the first in Asia to put such a request forward to the Washington-based lender as it seeks to ramp up its attention on how to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Srinivasan told media "the RST comes also with an (upper credit tranche) program, so it's a joint initiative. The amounts will have to be discussed subsequently.”

This means that Bangladesh will need a regular IMF-supported program such as a stand-by agreement or an extended fund facility to be able to get this new type of financing.

He said "this facility is aimed at addressing transformational changes in countries, notably climate change and pandemic preparedness.”

DHAKA, 29 July 2022, (TON): Terming the Ukraine-Russia war as meaningless Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said “only arms producers are profiting from the conflict.”

She said “this war is meaningless. Because we are witnessing that only the arms producers are making profits. The lives of the general people are endangered.”

The prime minister said this while inaugurating Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Centennial Technical Training Center in Tungipara and 23 other technical training centres in various upazilas across the country.

The programme was held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium which the prime minister joined virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.

Sheikh Hasina said “this war comes with sanctions and counter-sanctions threatening the global economy.”

NEW DELHI, 29 July 2022, (TON): India, which is trying to expand its influence in crisis-hit Sri Lanka after China made deep inroads there, said “it was aware of reports about the planned visit of a Chinese vessel to a Sri Lankan port built with money from Beijing.”

Shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon showed research and survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 was en route to the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota and was expected to arrive on Aug 11.

India's foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told "the government carefully monitors any developments having a bearing on India's security and economic interests, and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them.”

"I think that should be a clear message."

WASHINGTON, 28 July 2022, (TON): Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “the US has made a substantial offer to Moscow to bring home US citizens detained in Russia.”

He added that he would be pressing his Russian counterpart in a planned conversation in the coming days to respond to the offer.

Speaking at a news conference at the US State Department, Blinken said Washington offered Moscow a deal to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan weeks ago and that he hoped to advance the process when he speaks with Lavrov.

Blinken said “there was a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal. And I’ll use the conversation to follow up personally and I hope move us toward a resolution.”

DUBAI, 28 July 2022, (TON): Jordan’s King Abdullah II has met with Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, in Amman, to discuss Palestine’s participation in regional economic projects.

King Abdullah told Lapid “the creation of a Palestinian state was essential in order to reach lasting peace between Arabs and Israelis, according to a report by Jordanian state news agency Petra.”

He also told “Israel’s prime minister to build on the discussions held with US President Joe Biden during his visit to the region earlier this month.”

The Jordanian king stressed the need to respect both Islamic and Christian holy sites located in Jerusalem and maintain peace in the coming period.

UNITED NATIONS, 28 July 2022, (TON): UN Security Council members have backed Iraq’s demand for a major investigation into a deadly July 20 artillery attack on a tourist area popular with Iraqis in the mountainous Duhok governorate of the Kurdistan region that left at least nine people dead and 23 others wounded.

Backing for the inquiry comes only days after the Security Council unanimously condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

However, council members did not mention Turkey during the emergency meeting late that was sought by Iraq and the UAE to discuss the attack.

Baghdad summoned Turkey’s ambassador to condemn what it described as a “heinous crime committed by the Turkish troops, which has topped its continuous aggressions on the sovereignty of Iraq and its territories.”

CAIRO, 28 July 2022, (TON): New Delhi’s ambassador in Cairo has said “India looks forward to pumping additional investments into Egypt amounting to about $700 million in the coming few years.”

Ajit Gupte told a meeting of Egyptian and Indian businessmen in Cairo that Indian investments in Egypt currently stand at $3.15 billion.

He said “Indian companies are implementing a number of important projects in Egypt.”

Larsen & Toubro has implemented the Toshka 2 Wadi Halfa project for the transmission of electricity with a capacity of 220 kilovolts, while Sterling & Wilson has built solar power plants with a total capacity of 250 MW in five projects in Aswan, at a value of $250 million.

TUNIS, 28 July 2022, (TON): Tunisia has approved a new constitution granting unchecked powers to the office of President Kais Saied, the electoral board said, after a poorly attended referendum in which voters overwhelmingly backed the document.

Saied’s rivals accused the electoral board controlled by Saied of “fraud” and said his referendum, held Monday, had failed.

Electoral commission head Farouk Bouasker told “journalists the body announces the acceptance of the new draft constitution for the Republic of Tunisia, based on preliminary results, with 94.6 percent of valid ballots voting yes, on 30.5 percent turnout.”

Monday’s vote came a year to the day after the president sacked the government and suspended parliament in a dramatic blow to the only democracy to have emerged from the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

TOKYO, 28 July 2022, (TON): Japanese defense forces will participate for the first time in military exercises in Indonesia next month alongside the United States and Australia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said “after talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.”

Japan’s involvement comes as Washington and its regional allies step up efforts to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan has recently been putting heavy diplomatic emphasis on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, and Kishida visited the region, including Indonesia, earlier this year.

The meeting between Kishida and Jokowi, as he is popularly known, came a day after the Indonesian president made a rare visit to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping in which the two pledged to scale up trade and expand cooperation in areas such as agriculture and food security.