Friday, August 28
India has cut red tape to speed business visas for Chinese professionals, two officials said, a major step to boost ties between the Asian giants and end chronic delays that cost output worth billions of dollars because of scarce technicians. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautiously rekindles ties with Beijing in the face of punishing U.S. tariffs, the officials said New Delhi dropped a layer of bureaucratic scrutiny and shortened visa approval times to less than a month. Reuters is the first to report the development. India had blocked virtually all Chinese visits after the nuclear-armed neighbours clashed on their Himalayan frontier in mid-2020, widening its vetting of business visas beyond the home and foreign ministries. The issues around securing visas have now been completely resol
In a major diplomatic embarrassment for Pakistan, its PM Shahbaz Sharif was kept waiting for 40 mins by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two were supposed to meet on the sidelines of a conference in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.Footage released by Russia Today showed that Sharif was kept waiting for 40 mins. Later Sharif gatecrashed a meeting between Putin and the Turkish President and left after 10 mins. This was undiplomatic at the level of leaders.This is not the first time that Sharif had faced embarrassment during his meeting with Putin. Twice in the past, headphone of Sharif wasn’t working when Putin met him.Last week at the India-Russia annual summit, the issue of cross-border terror was discussed threadbare and the two sides decided to join hands to counter the menace thr
