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Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu becomes first Chairman of Rajya Sabha to sign an MOU
- Rajya Sabha has, for the first time in 76 years since it came into being, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a foreign counterpart for promoting inter-parliamentary dialogue.
- Shri Venkaiah Naidu, has, in the process, become the first Chairman of Rajya Sabha to sign such an agreement when he inked an MOU with the visiting President of the Senate of the Republic of Rwanda, Mr. Bernard Makuza.
- The MOU with 6 articles of cooperation seeks to promote Inter-Parliamentary dialogue, Capacity building of parliamentary staff, Organisation of conferences, forums, seminars, staff attachment programmes, workshops and exchanges, Collaboration in mutual interest in regional and international multilateral parliamentary bodies in furtherance of bilateral relations and friendship between the two countries.
Republic of Rwanda:
- The Parliament of Rwanda have 60% of women legislatures.
- Rwanda was elected as the Chair of the African Union in January this year and successfully hosted capital Kigali of the Assembly of the African Union in March that resulted in the signing of the African Continent Free Trade Agreement.
- The Senate of Rwanda has the special role of in monitoring and punishing those responsible for the genocide policy in the country that resulted in the killing of about one million people and also overseeing implementation of the social justice programmes.
The dream of ‘New India’ will be realised with the vision of a ‘New North East’
- The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has said the road to ‘New India’ will go through a developed and peaceful ‘New North East’. Addressing the concluding session during the 67th Plenary Session of the NEC in Shillong, he said the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has a dream of New India by 2022.
- “The North East needs better Road Connectivity and it has recently made some progress in this area. The economic potential of the region will be realised with better connectivity,” said Shri Rajnath Singh. “If we can provide quality broadband services in the region the youth of the North East will find the employment opportunities closer to their home. It would also stop the migration of local youth to distant areas of the country,” he added.
- The Union Home Minister said the ITIs and Polytechnic Institutes should play a role in Skill Development. “NEC should also consider setting up the Regional Institute for Skill Development,” he said.
- “The North-Eastern states need to create a conducive environment for private investments which should make the investors feel safe and their problems are addressed. It will give a big boost to investments,” he said.
Action plan for boosting cruise tourism
Government of India has taken several steps to promote Cruise Tourism in the country. These include
- Certainty of berth to cruise ships.
- Ousting charges have been removed – this has reduced overall cost
- Discount of 42-66 % allowed in Port Charges
- Simplified SOPs issued for processes to be observed by multiple agencies like port authorities, Customs, Immigration, Security, State Govt, Ship Agents, Tour Operators etc
- E-Landing card system is ready for ease of travelling among Indian ports
- E- visa introduced for online and on arrival visa facilities
- Cabotage waived for foreign cruise vessels on Indian shores enabling passengers to board the vessel at Indian Ports for voyage along Indian shores.
- Cruise terminals upgraded with more passenger amenities
- New cruise terminals to be constructed
- Reputed consultant appointed by Shipping Ministry to draw up a road map for Cruise Tourism in India. They have projected that the number of tourists is likely to go up to 4.5 million by 2042-43.
India, South Korea Sign Five MoUs in Science & Technology
- India and South Korea signed five MoUs in the field of Science & Technology.
- Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Harsh Vardhan and his South Korean counterpart, Mr. You Young Min signed three MoUs for:
- Programme of Cooperation 2018-21;
- Establishment of Future Strategy Group;
- Cooperation in Biotechnology & Bioeconomy.
- The MoU on Establishment of Future Strategy Group was signed by Indian Science & Technology and Commerce Ministers, while on the Korean side, it was signed by Science and ICT and Trade Ministers.
- Two other MoUs were signed to further accelerate future-oriented cooperation in their respective sectors, between:
- Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), and South Korean National Research Council for Science & Technology
- IIT Mumbai and Korea Institute of Science &Technology,
- The Ministers also agreed to establish a Future Strategic Group, which will build a collaborative platform that can utilize the potential of both the countries towards fostering innovation and create impact which is of social and economic good.
- To begin with, both sides will be co-funding collaborative enterprise-led joint R&D projects covering (i) Digital Transformation (ii) Future Manufacturing (iii) Future Utilities and (iv) Health Care.
- It was also agreed to jointly establish two additional India-Korea Joint Network Centres in areas among ‘Cyber Physical System- Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things focused on agriculture, energy, water and transportation and ‘Semiconductor Electronics’.
- In the area of biotechnology, New Delhi and Seoul have agreed to extend cooperation in health and medicine, agro-fishery products developed with the adoption of biotechnology; environment-related challenges and developing environmental and energy sectors through bio-technology, big data biotechnology; bio-research resources; synthetic biology, genome editing and microbiomes, etc.
- Both countries renewed the Programme of Cooperation in the field of Science and Technology for 2018-21 to augment the cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation.
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