Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier international forum for global economic cooperation.
• Formed in 1999, the G-20 has the mandate to promote global economic growth, international trade, and regulation of financial markets.
• The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union.
• Because the G-20 is a forum, not a legislative body, its agreements and decisions have no legal impact, but they do influence countries' policies and global cooperation.
• It does not have any permanent secretariat or headquarters.
• The G-20's ranks include all members of the Group of Seven (G-7), a forum of the seven countries with the world's largest developed economies: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Objectives

• Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth.
• To promote financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises.
• To create a new international financial architecture.

Significance

• G20 members account for 85 percent of the world economy, 75 percent of global trade, and two-thirds of the world's population, including more than half of the world's poor.

Explanation :

• Founded in 2002, the Global Fund is a partnership designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemic.
• Microsoft founder Bill Gates was one of the first private foundations among many bilateral donors to provide seed money for the partnership.
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Global Fund is the world's largest financier of AIDS, TB, and malaria prevention, treatment, and care programs.
• The Global Fund is a financing mechanism rather than an implementing agency.
• Programs are implemented by in-country partners such as ministries of health, while the Global Fund secretariat, whose staff only have an office in Geneva, monitor the programs.

Explanation :

• Founded in 1865, the International Telecommunication Union (originally the International Telegraph Union), is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is responsible for issues that concern information and communication technologies.
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it is the oldest global international organization.

Sectors

The ITU consists of three sectors:

• Radiocommunication (ITU-R) — ensures optimal, fair and rational use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum.
• Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T) — formulates recommendations for standardizing telecommunication operations worldwide.
• Telecommunication Development (ITU-D) — assists countries in developing and maintaining internal communication operations.

Membership

• There are 193 Member States of the ITU, including all UN member states except the Republic of Palau, plus the Vatican City.
• Membership of ITU is open to only UN members, which may join the Union as Member States, as well as to private organizations like carriers, equipment manufacturers, funding bodies, research and development organizations and international and regional telecommunication organizations, which may join ITU as non-voting Sector Members.

Function

• The ITU sets and publishes regulations and standards relevant to electronic communication and broadcasting technologies of all kinds including radio, television, satellite, telephone and the Internet.

India and ITU

• India has been an active member of the ITU since 1869 and has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952.
• In November 2018, India was elected as a Member of the ITU Council for another 4-year term (2019-2022).

Explanation :

• The ASEAN Defence Ministers’s Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) is a platform for ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region.
• The ADMM-Plus countries include ten ASEAN Member State and eight Plus countries, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russian Federation, and the United States.
• The Inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 12th October 2010. The Defence Ministers then agreed on five areas of practical cooperation to pursue under this new mechanism, namely maritime security, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations and military medicine.

Objectives

• To benefit ASEAN member countries in building capacity to address shared security challenges, while cognisant of the differing capacities of various ASEAN countries
• To promote mutual trust and confidence between defence establishments through greater dialogue and transparency
• To enhance regional peace and stability through cooperation in defence and security, in view of the transnational security challenges the region faces
• To contribute to the realisation of an ASEAN Security Community which, as stipulated in the Bali Concord II, embodies ASEAN’s aspiration to achieve peace, stability, democracy and prosperity in the region where ASEAN member countries live at peace with one another and with the world at large
• To facilitate the implementation of the Vientiane Action Programme, which calls for ASEAN to build a peaceful,secure and prosperous ASEAN.

Explanation :

• Established in 1874, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), with its headquarters in the Swiss capital Berne, is the second oldest international organization
• With its 192 member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players. It helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services.
• It frames rules for international mail exchange and fixes rates for international postal services.
• All United Nations member states are allowed to become members of the UPU. A non-member state of the United Nations may also become a member if two-thirds of theUPU member countries approve its request.
• India joined the UPU in 1876.

The UPU consists of:

4 Bodies

• The Congress
• The Council of Administration
• The Postal Operations Council
• The International Bureau

2 Cooperatives

• Telematics Cooperative
• Express Mail Services (EMS) Cooperative

Explanation :

• The ISA was unveiled jointly by India and France at the U.N. Climate Change Conference-CoP-21 in Paris on November 30^th, 2015. It is headquartered at GwalPahari, Gurugram, India.
• The ISA Framework Agreement was opened for signature during the CoP-22 at Marrakesh on 15^th November, 2016.
• The idea was to form a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps in their energy requirements through a common approach.
• Towards this, the ISA has set a target of 1 TW of solar energy by 2030.
• Under the alliance, India has set a target to produce 100 GW of solar energy by 2022 and reduction in emission intensity by 33–35% by 2030.
• The ISA is open to 121 prospective member countries, most of them located between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn as this is the region worldwide with a surplus of bright sunlight for most of the year. Till date, 81 countries have taken membership of ISA.

Key Focus Areas

• Promote solar technologies, new business models and investment in the solar sector to enhance prosperity
• Formulate projects and programmes to promote solar applications
• Develop innovative financial mechanisms to reduce cost of capital
• build a common knowledge e-Portal
• Facilitate capacity building for promotion and absorption of solar technologies and R&D among member countries

Explanation :

• UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964.
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it is part of the UN Secretariat.
• Some of the reports published by UNCTAD are:Trade and Development Report, World Investment Report, Technology and Innovation Report and Digital Economy Report.
• It supports developing countries to access the benefits of a globalized economy more fairly and effectively. Along with other UN departments and agencies, it also measures the progress made in the Sustainable Development Goals, as set out in Agenda 2030.

Explanation :

• The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, as part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade, is conducting India’s first national Time Release Study (TRS)between 1^{st _} 7^th August, 2019.
• The aim is to identify and address bottlenecks in the trade flow process and take the corresponding policy and operational measures required to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures, without compromising efficient trade control. Expected beneficiaries of this initiative will be export oriented industries and MSMEs, who will enjoy greater standardization of Indian processes with comparable international standards.
• This initiative will help India maintain the upward trajectory on Ease of Doing Business, particularly on the Trading across Borders indicator which measures the efficiency of the cross border trade ecosystem. Last year India’s ranking on the indicator improved from 146 to 80.
• The TRS is an internationally recognized tool advocated by World Customs Organization to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of international trade flows.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online