Summits & Meetings - Current Affairs for December, 2015

5 day long 10th WTO Ministerial Conference was concluded on 19th December 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya aimed at adoption of the Nairobi package for benefitting the poorest members of the organisation. The conference was attended by trade ministers of 162 member countries of the WTO. India was represented by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman. This marks the first time a meeting has been held in Africa by WTO in this capacity.

PM Narendra Modi chaired the Combined Commanders Conference abroad an aircraft carrier for the first time on board the INS Vikramaditya off the coast of Kochi. Indian naval and maritime capabilities were on display following the conference which was held on 15th December 2015.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has set to showcase alignment between China and Russia through integration of Beijing marshalled Silk Road Economic Belt and Moscow driven Eurasian Economic Union. SCO is part of the emerging Eurasia-centred Silk Road geopolitical architecture pillared by China and Russia, along with the Central Asian Republics.

Two day regional conference on “minimum government-maximum governance” has been held as part of GATI or Governance with Accountability, Transparency and Innovation at Karnataka’s capital city Bengaluru.Conference is being organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka on December 14-15, 2015.

Dr. M. Sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism inaugurated a 2 day International Conference on India-Laos: Inter-Cultural Linkages. The conference was organised by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art in partnership with Shri Bharatvarshiya Digambar Jain Teerth Sanrakshini Mahasabha, New Delhi, India and Laos share a common cultural heritage and the conference sought to explore linkages.

The congress will be attended by Security Chiefs of the Railway Systems of various countries apart from representatives of UIC, Indian Railways, police and security agencies of India. Mr. Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General of the International Union of Railways (UIC) and delegates of member countries would be attending. Railways CM will be Chief Guest. The International Union of Railways is a professional organisation which came into existence in 1922. There are 6 UIC assemblies.

A total of 25 media organisations are participating in the summit, which hopes to create a new institutional framework that would be tailored to benefit the media of five emerging economies, which have deep linkages with the Global South. It will be held on December 1 2015. Initiative follows the formation of the New Development Bank. The media summit has been launched with The Hindu group of publications, the Brazil Communication Company, Russia Today International News Agency, and South Africa’s Independent Media.