8 July 2016

PM Modi holds talks with South African President in Pretoria to boost bilateral ties

·        The one to one talk between the Prime Minister NarendraModi and South African President Jacob Juma is being held in the Union Building, the Presidential Office of South Africa in Pretoria.

·        Agreements on economic ties, Technology transfer and civil aviation are likely to be signed. The two leaders will then brief a joint press conference

·        Prime Minister will also meet Deputy President of South Africa H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa.


·        Mr Modi and Mr Zuma are also scheduled to address business leaders of the both countries in CSIR conference hall. Mr.Modi will also visit Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.

Nirmala Sitharaman to lead business delegation to Russia

        Commerce and Industry Minister NirmalaSitharaman will lead a delegation of over 110 Indian companies that will showcase their engineering prowess at a trade fair in Russia.

·        India is the partner country for 'INNOPROM 2016', which is the largest annual international industrial trade fair of Russia.

·        The 4-day fair starts from the coming sunday in Ekaterinburg.

·        Russia is the first country to have agreed to invest under the 'Make in India' umbrella in two key strategic sectors - nuclear and defence.


·        India and Russia have set a goal of boosting bilateral trade to 30 billion dollars and mutual investment to 15 billion dollars by 2025. The two-way trade stood at 6.18 billion dollars last year.

Rajnath Singh to inaugurate BRICS drug control meeting

·        Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates the second anti-drug working group meeting of heads of Drug Control Agencies of BRICS countries.

·        The meeting is being organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India.


·        India will host the 8th BRICS summit in October 2016 in Goa

NATO Summit begins in Warsaw; Afghan forces, IS militants on agenda

·        The NATO summit begins today in Warsaw, Poland.

·        In the two day Summit, the leaders of the 28 NATO Allies and many partner nations will deliberate and take decisions to enhance the Alliance’s security by strengthening its deterrence and defence, and projecting stability beyond its borders.


·        On the heels of a U.S. announcement to keep 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, NATO leaders will discuss key security topics.