♦ The first Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on Agriculture was held between India and Ukraine in virtual mode on 18 june 2025.
♦ The meeting was co-chaired by Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Joint Secretary (IC), Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfares and Oksana Osmachko, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
♦ Officials from both countries emphasized that the meeting marks an important milestone in strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors.
Posted Date: June 18, 2025Meetings
♦ India and the Central American Integration System (SICA) held a virtual dialogue to strengthen bilateral cooperation and deepen engagement across key sectors.
♦ The meeting was co-chaired by Rajesh Vaishnaw, Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, and Alejandro Solano, Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs of Costa Rica, which currently holds the Pro-Tempore Presidency of SICA.
♦ Highlighting the shared values of democracy, sustainable development, and South-South cooperation, the Indian side reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the region through its development partnership initiatives.
♦ These include the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, Quick Impact Projects (QIPs), and a dedicated SME grant programme.
Posted Date: June 20, 2025♦ A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed in New Delhi between the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on 18 June 2025. The MoU aims to promote inclusive education for persons with disabilities.
♦ The signing ceremony was presided over by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr. Virendra Kumar, and the Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan.
♦ The primary objective of this collaboration is to establish a robust framework for promoting inclusive education for persons with disabilities, in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
♦ Under this agreement, NIOS will establish Special Accredited Institutions for the Education of the Disabled learners, recognizing special schools run by NGOs funded under Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme.
Posted Date: June 18, 2025♦ The first Assembly of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) was held in New Delhi.
♦ The meeting was chaired by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and attended by ministerial delegations from nine countries, including Bhutan, Cambodia, Eswatini, Guinea, India, Liberia, Suriname, Somalia, and Kazakhstan.
♦ IBCA is a global initiative envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the conservation of big cats.
♦ The Assembly unanimously endorsed Bhupender Yadav as the President and S.P. Yadav as the Director General of IBCA.
♦ The IBCA, established by the Government of India through the National Tiger Conservation Authority in March 2024, comprises 95 range countries.
♦ It aims to create a global platform for conservation cooperation, knowledge sharing, and technical and financial support to halt the decline of big cat populations and safeguard biodiversity.
Posted Date: June 17, 2025♦ Prime Minister Narendra Modi held comprehensive bilateral discussions with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides on 16 June 2025.
♦ The talks were held at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, where Prime Minister Modi was received with ceremonial honours.
♦ The two leaders reaffirmed their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both nations.
♦ Both sides reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation, including trade and investment, scientific research, cultural engagement, and people-to-people ties.
♦ They explored new areas of collaboration in fintech, digitalization, defence, AI, innovation, start-ups, and mobility.
♦ The leaders agreed to chart a five-year roadmap to deepen engagement in strategic sectors and to establish new dialogues on maritime and cyber security.
Posted Date: June 16, 2025♦ Indian Coast Guard has chaired the 137th meeting of the Offshore Security Coordination Committee in New Delhi on 12 June 2025.
♦ The meeting aimed to review the preparedness and effectiveness of the security of India’s offshore installations and enhance joint response mechanisms.
♦ The committee further underscored the imperative of enhancing joint responses to safeguard vital energy infrastructure.
♦ A special emphasis was placed on strengthening coordination amongst agencies to address emerging challenges and ensure the security of offshore assets.
Posted Date: June 12, 2025♦ The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) began in Nice, France, on 9 June 2025.
♦ This was co-hosted by the Governments of France and Costa Rica.
♦ Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, serves as the Conference Secretary-General.
♦ The conference concludes on June 13.
♦ France and Brazil launched a landmark international initiative to dramatically scale up ocean-focused climate action.
♦ The Blue Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Challenge calls on all countries to place the ocean at the heart of their climate plans ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30), which Brazil will host in November, 2025.
♦ Alongside Brazil and France, an inaugural group of eight countries — Australia, Fiji, Kenya, Mexico, Palau, and Seychelles — has already joined the initiative, committing to include the ocean in their updated climate plans under the Paris Agreement.
♦ The Fourth UN Ocean Conference (UNOC4) was announced to be co-hosted by Chile and the Republic of Korea in 2028.
Posted Date: June 9, 2025♦ Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD) and the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development and deployment of multilingual artificial intelligence solutions across key public-facing railway platforms on 9 June 2025.
♦ The MoU was formally signed by CEO of BHASHINI Amitabh Nag and Managing Director of CRIS G.V.L. Satya Kumar in New Delhi.
♦ The strategic partnership aims to integrate BHASHINI’s state-of-the-art language technology stack, comprising Automatic Speech Recognition, Text-to-Text Translation, Text-to-Speech, and Optical Character Recognition, into CRIS-managed systems such as the National Train Enquiry System (NTES) and RailMadad.
♦ This will enable citizens to access critical railway services in 22 Indian languages.
Posted Date: June 9, 2025♦ The 4th meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue was held in New Delhi on 6 June 2025 under the chairship of the External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar.
♦ Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan took part in the meeting.
♦ The dialogue was focused on strengthening regional cooperation, with discussions covering trade, connectivity, technology, and development partnerships.
♦ The ministers also exchange views on regional security and other pressing regional and global issues of mutual interest.
Posted Date: June 6, 2025♦ India and Kyrgyzstan signed the Protocol and exchanged the Instrument of Ratification of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) on 5 June 2025.
♦ The BIT was signed in presence of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Foreign Affairs Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Zheenbek Kulubaev Moldokanovich in New Delhi.
♦ The new Treaty replaces the earlier agreement enforced on 12th May 2000, ensuring continuity in the protection of investments between the two nations.
♦ Highlighting its benefits, the Finance Ministry said that the India-Kyrgyz BIT marks a significant milestone in strengthening bilateral economic relations and fostering a secure and predictable investment environment.
♦ It aims to promote and protect interests of investors of either country in the territory of the other country with various key features.
♦ The Ministry added that the treaty is expected to further encourage cross-border investments and deepen economic cooperation between India and Kyrgyzstan.
Posted Date: June 5, 2025♦ India and the United Kingdom held the 17th round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in New Delhi, where the two sides reviewed the full spectrum of their bilateral ties.
♦ The meeting also marked the launch of the first Strategic Exports and Technology Cooperation Dialogue (SETCD), aimed at deepening collaboration in high-technology and strategic sectors.
♦ Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri led the Indian delegation, while the UK side was represented by Sir Oliver Robbins, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The last FOC was held in London in May 2024.
♦ The discussions focused on strengthening cooperation across areas such as trade and investment, defence and security, counter-terrorism, climate action, green energy, science and innovation, education, and people-to-people ties.
♦ The inaugural SETCD addressed export control mechanisms, with a view to facilitating greater technology collaboration in strategic areas.
Posted Date: June 4, 2025