WASHINGTON, 30 November 2022, (TON): French President Emmanuel Macron is headed to Washington for the first state visit of Joe Biden’s presidency a revival of diplomatic pageantry that had been put on hold because of the pandemic.

The Biden-Macron relationship had a choppy start. Macron briefly recalled France’s ambassador to the United States last year after the White House announced a deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia, undermining a contract for France to sell diesel-powered submarines.

But the relationship has turned around with Macron emerging as one of Biden’s most forward-facing European allies in the Western response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This week’s visit it will include Oval Office talks, a glitzy dinner, a news conference and more comes at a critical moment for both leaders.

DHAKA, 30 November 2022, (TON): Officials said “the Bangladesh Navy is hosting the first-ever International Fleet Review at Inani of Cox’s Bazar between December 6 and 9.”

They added “Naval commanders, ships from some 30 countries including the United States, China, India and the neighbouring Myanmar would participate in the international gathering.”

According to a letter from the Armed Forces Division, the US Pacific fleet commander Admiral Samuel J Paparo Jr, Indian chief of naval staff Admiral R Hari Kumar and Indian Coast Guard director general Virender Singh Pathania, among others, were scheduled to visit Cox’s Bazar with their aircraft.

WASHINGTON, 30 November 2022, (TON): Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest, Romania.

They discussed bilateral cooperation in response to Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine and our close and continuing partnership as NATO Allies.

The Secretary and President Iohannis also discussed our collaboration on regional energy security and spoke about our shared democratic values and commitment to the rule of law.

DHAKA, 30 November 2022, (TON): Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Ito Naoki said “Japan is the largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh. It has provided about $27 billion in grants and loans to Bangladesh since 1971. Japan is currently implementing some of the major infrastructure projects.”

Ambassador said “the two countries are willing to elevate the relations to a strategic level during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Japan.”

Naoki said “we are working on the visit because it will be immensely beneficial for us to deepen our friendship. We still have a lot of room for developing our partnership and cooperation for peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region. I hope the visit will take place sooner rather than later and elevate our partnership.”

He added “it is not only me. All the like minded countries' missions here hope that there will be free, fair and participatory elections. I have been talking to all the interlocutors of mine during my assignment here.”

RIYADH, 30 November 2022, (TON): Saudi Press Agency reported “Saudi Arabia extended the term for a $5 billion deposit the Kingdom made to Egypt’s central bank.”

The extension comes at the directive of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and aims to enhance economic stability in Egypt.

There is continuous communication between authorities in the two countries in order to enhance coordination, especially with regard to pumping numerous investments in foreign currencies into the Egyptian market in addition to Saudi deposits.

It is hoped that these investments will contribute to opening new funding channels with regional and international organizations.

WASHINGTON, 30 November 2022, (TON): Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland will travel to Lodz, Poland November 30 to December 1, where she will attend the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

Under Secretary Nuland will reiterate the United States’ commitment to the OSCE’s foundational principles to advance security, prosperity, human rights, and territorial integrity particularly in the face of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Under Secretary Nuland will also meet with Polish officials to thank Poland for its leadership as OSCE chair and underscore the U.S. commitment to NATO’s Eastern Flank.

DHAKA, 30 November 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board to set up a 1000MW solar power plant in Bangladesh.

Welcoming the initiative, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said “the investment and technology of the ACWA will help Bangladesh achieve its clean energy goal of 2041.”

He said “Bangladesh has been supporting renewable energy in different ways.”

NEW DELHI, 30 November 2022, (TON): Indian and US troops participated in a high-altitude training exercise in a cold, mountainous terrain near India's disputed border with China, at a time both countries are trying to manage rising tensions with Beijing.

During the exercise, Indian soldiers were dropped from helicopters to flush out gunmen from a house in a demonstration of unarmed combat skills.

Other drills involved sniffer dogs and unmanned bomb-disposing vehicles, and trained kites were deployed to destroy small enemy drones.

Brig said "overall, it has been a great learning experience. There has been sharing of best practices between both the armies.”

KYIV, 30 November 2022, (TON): NATO allies promised more arms for Kyiv and equipment to help restore Ukrainian power and heat knocked out by Russian missile and drone strikes, as air raid sirens blared across Ukraine for the first time this week.

Ukrainians fled the streets for bomb shelters, although the all-clear later sounded across the country. In the eastern Donetsk region Russian forces pounded Ukrainian targets with artillery, mortar and tank fire.

Foreign ministers from the NATO alliance, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, began a two-day meeting in Bucharest, seeking ways both to keep Ukrainians safe and warm and to sustain Kyiv’s military through a coming winter campaign.

By Ali hassan
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. As in the period of independence it was not expected that Sri-Lanka would go under such crises but bad governance and poor policies not only led Sri-Lanka to food crises but it has been enduring soaring inflation, power blackouts, and fuel rationing since last year severely. The main reasons which caused food insecurity in Sri Lanka and which has increased dramatically are reduced domestic agricultural production, scarcity of foreign exchange reserves and depreciation of the local currency which further caused food shortages and a spike in the cost of living, which is limiting people’s access to healthy and affordable meals. Moreover, Sri-Lanka came on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19 threatening to undo years of development progress, severely undermining the country’s ability to achieve the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
However, before the economic crisis and the pandemic, malnutrition rates across Sri Lanka were already high. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sri Lankan women and children suffered from far higher rates of malnutrition than most other middle-income countries. According to an estimate 17 percent of children aged fewer than 5 in Sri-Lanka were too short because of stunting in addition 15 percent were too thin for their height. Hence sustainable development and constructive way of economic growth became impossible as most of the people of Sri-Lanka were not able to work mainly due to heath sickness and disabilities.
In June 2022 UN agencies had estimated that 1.7 million out of the 22 million populations in Sri Lanka are dependent and required help. Moreover, the number of people in Sri Lanka needing urgent humanitarian help has doubled to 3.4 million, which is an alarming situation and hence more than 6 million people nearly 30 percent of the population are currently food-insecure and require humanitarian assistance. Further in contemporary poverty rate in the South Asian nation has doubled to 25.6 percent this year, up from 13.1 percent last year. Viewing the current situation the United Nations has warned of a worsening food crisis in the south Asian island nation that declared itself bankrupt in July amid an unprecedented economic crisis.
UN agencies working in Sri Lanka in a joint statement declared that they had raised $79m to feed that in need, but the increasing number of poor people meant an additional $70m was needed. The UN said its revised plan aims at feeding 2.1 million people, including pregnant mothers and school children and providing livelihood support to 1.5 million farmers and fishermen.The country defaulted on its $51bn external debt in mid-April and is in talks with the IMF for a $2.9bn bailout. Moreover months of protests against high prices and shortages of food and medicines just led to the toppling of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July. There was no plenary action which could possible taken in order to meet the response of the protestors due to economic crises.
The latest WFP assessment reveals that 86 percent of families are buying cheaper, less nutritious food, eating less and in some cases skipping meals altogether. In addition, weather extremes such as droughts, floods and landslides are heightening food and nutrition insecurity. Moreover, The World Food Programme (WFP) has been working with the Government of Sri Lanka since 1968 to address malnutrition, support families to access food and improve the productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers.WFP supports school-aged children in food insecure areas to access to food year-round, provides children aged under 5, adolescent girls and women of reproductive age with nutritious food and helps communities prepare for and respond to climate shocks. Gender empowerment is integrated into all of WFP’s activities, to promote equality and strengthen food and nutrition security for women and girls.
WFP is scaling up its operations to support 3.4 million people between June and December 2022 whose food security, nutrition and livelihoods are at risk.Since mid-2020, food prices worldwide have been consistently rising. The pandemic, and subsequently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have exacerbated food inflation and increased the cost of importing food. Similarly, increased crude oil prices as well as the disruption in fertilizer supplies have raised fertilizer prices. Sri Lanka’s dwindling foreign currency reserves in the aftermath of reduced tourist inflows due to the pandemic, further compounded by tax cuts has led to a precarious fiscal position. In this backdrop, importing food and fertilizer is a challenge for Sri Lanka.
As an emergency response, international organizations have begun humanitarian programs targeting the country’s vulnerable segments. The WFP has already been distributing food vouchers to pregnant women in underserved districts of Colombo. Further, FAO and WFP are closely monitoring the food security situation in Sri Lanka and have just concluded a Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM). Asian Development Bank, upon the request of the government of Sri Lanka is preparing an emergency assistance package in close coordination with the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, IMF, and the United Nations agencies.
ADB joins six other International Financial Institutions to address food security, which includes the African Development Bank (AfDB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). ADB is also working to establish a food security support program to mobilize more resources to promote food security and resilience of food system.