France Restates Support for a Permanent Seat for India in UNSC

France continues to support for India as the permanent member of the UN Security Council. France assumed the March Presidency of the UNSC and feels that the reforming the UNSC should start with its expansion. Germany will take over the Presidency in April.

US to End Trade Benefits for India and Turkey

President Donald Trump delivered a notice to the US Congress on March 4, 2019.  In the notice, he has expressed his intention to terminate trade benefits for India and Turkey under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme. India was the largest beneficiary of the GSP program in 2017 with $5.7 billion in duty-free imports to the U.S. The notice starts a 60 day countdown to action.

Malaysia Joins the International Criminal Court

Malaysia finally signed the Rome Statute to become the 124th State party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 4, 2019. The country will officially be a member of the court from June 1, 2019.

Pranay Kumar Verma Appointed as Indian Ambassador to Vietnam

The Ministry of External Affairs appointed Pranay Kumar Verma as the next Ambassador of India to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on March 1, 2019. Belonging to the IFS cadre of 1994, he is presently the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs.

Macky Sall Re-elected as President of Senegal

Macky Sall has officially taken over his second term as the President of Senegal. He was re-elected with 58.27% of votes during the election on February 24, 2019.