PIB Notes
WORLD :
Saudi Arabia: First Arab Nation To Take Over The G20 Presidency
- Saudi Arabia became the first Arab nation to take over the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2019.
- It has taken over from Japan and it will host the G20 Summit in its capital, Riyadh on November 21 and 22, 2020.
- The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries (including India) and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Chennai –Vladivostok Maritime Route
- India and Russia agreed to open a maritime route between the ports of Chennai and Vladivostok to ensure connectivity between the two countries.
SpaceCom: A New Pentagon Command
- SpaceCom is a new command of Pentagon (United States’ Department of Defense), dedicated to warfare in space.
- Air Force General John Raymond, will lead the new command.
Motihari-Amlekhgunj Pipeline
- The recently launched Motihari (Bihar)-Amlekhgunj (Nepal) pipeline is the first cross-border petroleum products pipeline in South Asia.
- The 69km pipeline will transport fuel from Barauni in Bihar to Amlekhgunj in Nepal.
- Construction of the pipeline was undertaken by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL), India’s largest refiner, in collaboration with Nepal Oil Corp. Ltd (NOCL).
Chilahati- Haldibari Rail Link
- The foundation stone was laid at Chilahati in Bangladesh for undertaking the work of up-gradation and laying of missing tracks from Chilahati to the border with India near Haldibari.
- The 7.5-kilometre long railway track will help in providing connectivity from West Bengal into Assam via Bangladesh.
- The Haldibari-Chilahati railway track was part of the broad gauge main route from Kolkata to Siliguri during British undivided India. Trains from Bangladesh to Darjeeling via Siliguri operated till 1965 which stopped functioning after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
Taiwan: Losing Diplomatic Allies
- Kiribati is the seventh country to sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen came to office in 2016, following Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, El Salvador and the Solomon Islands.
- China claims Taiwan as its territory, and says the democratic island has no right to formal ties with any country.
- Taiwan now has formal relations with only 15 countries worldwide.
- India has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Operation Matterhorn
- It was the largest peacetime repatriation of British Govt. after travel company Thomas Cook declared bankruptcy, stranding hundreds of thousands of holiday-makers.
- The effort was to fly 150,000 travelers who were booked on Thomas Cook flights back home to Britain.
World Patient Safety Day
- In World War II, Operation Matterhorn was a military operation of the United States Army Air Forces for the strategic bombing of Japanese forces. The name comes from the Matterhorn, a mountain the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy, traditionally considered particularly difficult to climb.
- The World Health Organization hosted the first-ever World Patient Safety Day on September 17, 2019.
- It is an awareness campaign, to be observed annually, to prevent harms to patients due to errors in diagnosis, errors in medicine prescriptions and treatments, and the inappropriate use of drugs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 138 million patients are harmed every year by doctors' errors.
- 17 September was established as World Patient Safety Day by the 72nd World Health Assembly in May 2019.
- The theme of the very first World patient Safety Day was “Patient Safety: A Global Health Priority” and the slogan was “Speak up for Patient Safety”.
Indio-French Strategy In Western Indian Ocean Region
- India and France have taken concrete steps to firm up their strategic partnership in the western Indian Ocean, as part of their respective Indo-Pacific strategies.
- Leaders of India, France and Vanilla Islands – consisting of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean – met for the first time in Reunion Islands (a French territory) for exploring economic and development partnership.
- India, in partnership with France, is keen to focus on port development, blue economy, trade, connectivity, tourism, skill development, hospitality and healthcare in this resource-rich region. India is also eyeing gas deposits in the Mozambique Channel near Vanilla Islands.
- While India has longstanding defence partnerships with Mauritius and Seychelles, its defence ties with Comoros and Madagascar are growing as part of India’s Indo-Pacific outreach to ensure peace and stability.
- India’s mantra for the region 'SAGAR' stands for 'security and growth for all'. India could forge a strong economic partnership in the Indo-Pacific, especially around the Reunion.”
‘Vanilla Islands’
- Vanilla Islands is a grouping of six island nations in south-west Indian Ocean -Mayotte, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion and Madagascar.
- The term ‘Vanilla’ is used because these countries are known for their export of the flavouring substance Vanilla
