AMMAN, 15 December 2022, (TON): Jordan and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cybersecurity collaboration between both countries, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The MoU was signed by Jordanian National Center for Cyber Security Director Bassam Maharmeh and British Ambassador to Jordan Bridget Brind.

The NCSC stated that the agreement reflects the countries’ efforts to safeguard the economic, social and security benefits of using transparent and safe cyberspace.

It added “the memorandum is in line with the national strategy for cybersecurity and serves the NCSC’s efforts to achieve a safe and reliable Jordanian cyberspace that enables growth and prosperity.”

CAIRO, 15 December 2022, (TON): Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will seek to strengthen trade and investment partnerships during a three-day American-African summit hosted by US President Joe Biden with the participation of 49 African leaders.

Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said “El-Sisi, who arrived in Washington on Tuesday, intends to focus on broadening the African-US partnership to confront the food security crisis and to better integrate African countries into the global economy.”

He added “this will yield benefits in terms of economic growth, technology transfer and foreign investment.”

El-Sisi will meet several senior US officials to discuss strengthening bilateral relations, and is also scheduled to meet a group of leading businessmen to discuss greater cooperation in economic, trade and investment sectors.

NEW DELHI, 15 December 2022, (TON): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday and exchanged views on working together during India's G20 Presidency.

Mr Jaishankar, in a Twitter post, said “he valued the UN chief's insights on UNSC reform and the Ukraine conflict.”

Mr Jaishankar tweeted "a warm meeting with UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres. Valued his insights on UNSC reform and the Ukraine conflict. Exchanged views on working together during India's G20 Presidency.”

KYIV, 15 December 2022, (TON): Ukrainian forces shot down 13 drones on Wednesday, officials said “as Russia launched its first major drone attack on the capital Kyiv in weeks and the United States considered sending its advanced Patriot air defence system to help Ukraine.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said “explosions had rocked the city’s central Shevchenkivskyi district and that two administrative buildings had been damaged. An air raid alert was lifted three hours after it began.”

In one Kyiv district, residents said “they heard the sound of an Iranian Shahed drone known as mopeds by Ukrainians because of the loud whirring of their engines – followed by a powerful explosion at a building next to their homes.”

GENEVA, 15 December 2022, (TON): The new head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said she was prepared to go to Moscow to discuss access to prisoners of war.

Mirjana Spoljaric, who took the ICRC reins in October, told reporters in Geneva she had personally been “speaking with Russian counterparts.”

She said “I intend to go to Moscow, when the moment is there.”

Speaking at ICRC headquarters just days after returning from Ukraine, she said the organization was intent on gaining access to POWs taken by both sides since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last.

She said “we are in daily conversations at different levels, because access to prisoners of war is an ongoing engagement.”

“There is never a suspension or an end to that.”

KYIV, 15 December 2022, (TON): Ukraine said Wednesday that it had secured the release of a US citizen as well as 64 Ukrainian members of the military in its latest prisoner swap with Russian forces.

Ukraine presidency’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said “sixty-four soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who fought in Donetsk and Lugansk — in particular participated in the defense of the city of Bakhmut are going home.”

“It was also possible to free a US citizen who helped our people — Suedi Murekezi.”

MONTREAL, 15 December 2022, (TON): The thorny issue of how much money wealthy countries are willing to pony up to protect the world’s remaining biodiversity took center stage at UN talks in Montreal aimed at creating a peace pact with nature.

At stake is the future of the planet and whether humanity can roll back habitat destruction, pollution, and the climate crisis that are driving the sixth mass extinction of plant and animal species.

UN spokesman David Ainsworth said “negotiators worked late into the night Tuesday, but “the atmosphere deteriorated when the group started discussing concepts, in particular the global biodiversity fund proposal.”

The GBF is a new financial instrument sought by low-income nations to help them, for example, establish marine or terrestrial protected areas and implement biodiversity action plans.

WASHINGTON, 15 December 2022, (TON): President Joe Biden told dozens of African leaders gathered in Washington that the United States is all in on Africa’s future, laying out billions in promised government funding and private investment to help the growing continent in health, infrastructure, business and technology.

Biden told the leaders “the US is committed to supporting every aspect of Africa’s growth.”

Biden, who is pitching the US as a reliable partner to promote democratic elections and push critical health and energy growth, told the crowd the $55 billion in committed investments over the next three years announced was just the beginning.

By Usman Khan

The rainfall in Nepal during the monsoon this year was 10 percent lesser than the yearly average. The government regularly fails to acquire sufficient chemical fertilizer for farmers in time. Insufficient rain is likely to reduce the rice production and adversely impact the cultivation of pulses, oil seeds and vegetables, as winter rains are often unpredictable. The series of drought and floods in the plains the rice bowl and bread basket of the country is bad enough. The impact of climate change has begun to worsen the situation as heat waves during the summer and foggy haze during the winter negatively affect agriculture, animal husbandry and fish farming.

Small landholders and negligible farmers in Nepal need a lot of grit to maintain the tradition which once proclaimed that farming was the best occupation as it helped feed the world.  The sanctity of tilling the land for salvation has lost its social and religious overtones. When livelihood is at stake, economic considerations triumphs over family traditions. It is much more tempting these days to sell the land, get in touch with a manpower agent and fly away to the cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council such as Dubai, Doha or Dammam. It's the money they send home from their meagre earnings as remittances that has kept the Nepali economy afloat during difficult times.

The rhetoric of creating employment opportunities in Nepal through industrial development is all very well, but it flies in the face of ground realities. The supply of energy has stabilized to a certain extent, but the availability of hydroelectricity is highly vulnerable to natural calamities. The per unit cost of transportation in a landlocked country with largely rugged terrain makes the import of raw materials and the export of finished products highly uncompetitive.

In addition to transportation bottlenecks and volatility of energy availability, there are human resource restraints that dismay the productive investment in the industrial sector. Managerial talent is in short supply as opportunities in the development agencies and INGOs are more lucrative. Technical personnel prefer to work abroad due to higher prospects of career advancement in bigger markets. Skilled workers are hard to find and even more difficult to retain.

Perhaps the most frustrating element is the sense of entitlement among government officers, regulatory authorities and even unskilled workers that the jingoistic elites have nurtured over the years. While fly-by-night operators find the commercial environment extremely conducive for making a fast buck in cahoots with manipulative fixers, the condescending attitude of locals makes foreign investors, expatriate technocrats and skilled managers cringe as they feel unwanted and unwelcomed in a high-risk and low-return country.

The glamour of the tourism “industry” in Nepal notwithstanding, its contribution to the GDP was a miserable 6.7 percent recently, and is unlikely to go above 10 percent in the near future. Remittance has remained one of the largest contributors to the national economy for years, and will probably remain so for quite a while. The World Bank estimates that remittances accounted for 22 percent of the GDP this year. Informal inflows are considered to be at least 50 percent higher than official figures. The economic size of remittances is too high not to have a significant impact on the political economy of the country.

There is a growing fear amongst the general public whether Nepal will face a fate similar to that of Sri Lanka, given the escalating rate of inflation and high trade deficit. However, as the economic structure of Sri Lanka and that of Nepal are different, Nepal may escape the same fate. For example, Nepal has far less external debt compared to Sri Lanka. Besides, the contribution of tourism to the Nepalese economy is comparatively low. To be precise, Sri Lanka needs to repay the foreign debt worth US $4 billion this year whereas the debt service of Nepal for this year stands at only US $400 million only.

Likewise, while the contribution of tourism to the GDP of Nepal is around 3 percent, its contribution to the GDP of Sri Lanka is around 12 percent. As such, because of these two reasons, Nepal is less likely to be like that of Sri Lanka given the situation. Besides, the structure of loans Nepal has to service are different from that of Sri Lanka. In the case of Nepal, its debt comprises mainly the soft loan with lower interest rates whereas the foreign debt of Sri Lanka mostly comprises commercial loans.

Nepal’s current economic situation does ring alarm bells that it is time the country initiates appropriate steps towards increasing production and productivity. Poor governance, especially lack of transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and efficiency is of prime concern.  Formulating evidence-based economic policies that encourage transparency and accountability can save Nepal from an economic crisis similar to that of Sri Lanka with the help of highly skilled human resources and by implementing them effectively. Unfortunately, the prevailing political mechanism and bureaucracy appear reluctant to take such initiative. Nepal’s governance is characterized by corruption and nepotism. The country’s economy still hinges on remittance and traditional farming. Thus, Nepal’s economy may suffer a major setback if these issues are not resolved.

JAKARTA, 14 December 2022, (TON): The United States, South Korea and Japan vowed to consider all options against North Korea, including counterstrikes, in the wake of an unprecedented blitz of missile tests by Pyongyang that has sent regional tensions spiralling.

The flurry of North Korean launches include last month's test of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile and a missile that flew across the de facto maritime border and landed near South Korean waters for the first time since the Korean War.

US special representative for North Korea Sung Kim held talks with South Korean counterpart Kim Gunn and senior Japanese foreign ministry official Takehiro Funakoshi in Indonesia's capital Jakarta, where they warned of Pyongyang's threat to regional security.