of talks on ‘India-Middle East-
Europe Economic Corridor’
A high-level Indian delegation held
its first round of talks with UAE
officials on developing the
ambitious India-Middle East-Europe
Economic Corridor (IMEC) on 15-17
May 2024.
India's inter-ministerial team,
comprising top officials from the
Ministry of Shipping, Ports and
Waterways, Ministry of Commerce
and Industry, Central Board of
Excise and Customs and Deendayal
Upadhyay Port, Kandla.
During his three-day stay, he held
detailed discussions with officials
of Khalifa Port, Fujairah Port and
Jebel Ali Port on facilitating
movement of goods along the
envisioned economic corridor
connecting India to markets in the
Middle East and Europe.
The agreement, signed during
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
visit to the UAE earlier this
February, enables joint investment
and technical cooperation for the
development of the corridor with
the aim of logistics efficiency and
cost reduction.
Experts said the development
comes just after India signed a 10-
year agreement to manage Iran's
Chabahar port, which is expected
to strengthen India's trade ties
with Central Asia and Eurasia.
IMEC – which includes rail, ship and
road transport routes – was
announced on the sidelines of the
G20 summit in September 2023.
Leaders of India, US, UAE, Saudi
Arabia, Italy, France, Germany and
the European Commission met to
finalize the corridor.
America conducts third subcritical
nuclear test under Biden
administration
The United States conducted a
subcritical nuclear test in Nevada
earlier this week. The third
experiment, under the
administration of President Joe
Biden, was conducted to collect
essential data regarding the
country's nuclear weapons.
The US government announced a
moratorium on tests involving
nuclear explosions in 1992,
however, successive
administrations have continued
sub-critical tests. The last
subcritical test took place in
September 2021.
The experiment was the first in the
Nimble series, executed at the
Principal Underground Laboratory
for Subcritical Experimentation
(PULSE) facility in partnership with
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory.
