Current Affairs - International

India held the first-ever Security and Defence Consultations with European Union on 10th June 2022 at Brussels, capital city of Belgium.

• The two sides reviewed the entire gamut of their defence relations and evolving security situation in Europe, India’s neighbourhood and the Indo-Pacific.

During the recent visit of Indian Defence Minister to Vietnam, the two countries signed the 'Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030', which will significantly enhance the scope and scale of existing defence cooperation.

• Also, a Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Logistics Support was also inked.

Recently, UNICEF published a Child Alert report, Severe wasting: An overlooked child survival emergency, which shows that in the light of rising levels of severe wasting (Wasting is low weight for a child's height) in children and rising costs for life-saving treatment, global financing to save the lives of children suffering from wasting is also under threat.

• According to the Report, India has 5,772,472 children below five years affected by severe wasting — the most in the world.

A day before the QUAD leaders' meeting in Tokyo on May 24th, 2022, India and 12 other countries joined the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) unveiled by US President Joe Biden.

• The framework envisions a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific Region.

The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

• At this event, Abidjan Declaration on achieving Gender Equality for Successful Land Restoration was issued.

On 2nd April, 2022, India and Australia signed the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA). The negotiations for India-Australia ECTA were formally re-launched on 30 September 2021 and concluded on a fast-track basis by the end of March 2022.

India and the Report

• India may be one of the fastest growing economies of the world, but it is among the least happy countries according to the latest World Happiness Report 2022.
• The World Happiness Report 2022 ranked India 136th out of 146 countries. In 2021, India was ranked 136th out of 149 countries.

On 11th March, 2022, India and Canada held the fifth Ministerial Dialogue on Trade & Investment (MDTI) in New Delhi.

• The robust trade and economic relationship between India and Canada was highlighted and both countries resolved to further strengthen the bilateral ties and economic partnership.

India has signed the Host Country Agreement (HCA) for the establishment of an Area Office & Innovation Centre of ITU in New Delhi on 3rd March 2022.

• The agreement was signed in a virtual ceremony during the World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly-20 (WTSA-20) being held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Global Democracy Index 2021 was released by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The annual survey, rates the state of democracy across 167 countries on the basis of five measures: