BENAULIM: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed multi-billion dollar energy and defense pacts on Saturday following talks aimed at reinvigorating ties between the traditional allies.
Modi hailed Putin as an “old friend” after their meeting in the Indian state of Goa, where leaders of the other BRICS emerging nations were also gathering for a summit.
“Your leadership has provided stability and substance to our strategic partnership,” Modi said alongside Putin at a beachside resort, after officials signed up to 20 agreements between the two nations.
Modi said the pacts on jointly producing light military helicopters, building frigates and other areas of cooperation “lay the foundations for deeper defense and economic ties for years ahead.”
They also signed an initial agreement on India’s purchase of Russia’s state of the art defense system, capable of shooting down multiple incoming missiles, although there were no details on a timeframe for delivery.
India, the world’s top defense importer, is undergoing a $100-billion upgrade of its Soviet-era military, as it looks to protect its borders from arch-rival Pakistan and an increasingly assertive China.
But India has increasingly turned to the United States, and more recently France, rather than Russia, for its hardware, as Modi cultivates closer ties with Washington.
Putin has been seeking to seal deals with India to help revive Russia’s recession-hit economy, following sliding oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
“I would like to stress that we intend to expand our bilateral cooperation not only in energy but also across a wide range of areas,” Putin said.
The announced energy deals include Russian oil giant Rosneft’s decision to buy almost the entire stake in India’s Essar Oil for almost $13 billion.
Essar said the deal involving a group led by Rosneft was the largest single foreign direct investment in India. The leaders also signed an agreement to supply more units to a nuclear plant in Kudankulam in southern India to meet the fast-growing economy’s thirst for electricity and to reduce its reliance on dirty coal.
They discussed the threats posed by regional and “global terrorism” although it was not clear if this included India’s hiked tensions with archrival Pakistan.
Putin was seen as unlikely to weigh into the dispute between the rival neighbors, as Moscow also eyes closer defense ties with Islamabad. Russia and Pakistan carried out their first joint military exercise last month.
The deal for Russia’s most modern air defense system has been in the pipeline for a few years, along with the helicopters, and the building of four frigates in India.
India will purchase about 200 of the choppers to replace its ageing fleet under a joint venture over several years, with some manufactured in India, as it reduces its reliance on military imports.
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Modi, Putin sign defense deals
Modi, Putin sign defense deals
Survivors pick up pieces in flood-hit Indonesia as more rain predicted
TUKKA: Survivors in Indonesia were piecing back shattered lives Friday after devastating floods killed more than 1,500 people across four countries, with fears of fresh misery as more rain looms.
Indonesia has borne the brunt, with its toll rising to 837 dead and 545 missing, authorities said, many in Sumatra’s northern Aceh province where more than 800,000 people have been displaced. Sri Lanka has reported 486 deaths, Thailand 276 and Malaysia two.
Many survivors in Sumatra were counting the cost of the deluge that started last week, leading to destructive flash-flooding and landslides.
“Our house was covered by soil up to the ceiling,” said Rumita Laurasibuea. “Around the house, there were piles of wood.”
The 42-year-old government employee, now sheltering in a school, told AFP that recovering from the flood’s impact “could take more than a year.”
“This is a calamity we must face,” added Hendra Vramenia, 37, who fled his village of Kampung Dalam in southeastern Aceh.
“Possessions can be regained,” he told AFP, saying he remained worried that people in remote areas risk starvation.
Hendra said he would consider evacuating his family to his
“I will evacuate the children and family there first. Or I might also consider renting a house for the family,” he added.
- ‘Still worried’ -
Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned Aceh could see “very heavy rain” through Saturday, with North and West Sumatra also at risk.
Indonesian flood victims said fresh rain was likely to bring fresh misery.
“We are still worried... If the rain comes again, where can we go? Where can we evacuate?” asked Rumita.
In Sri Lanka, authorities said floodwaters had begun to recede, but residents face a mammoth clean-up.
In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear the mud and water damage.
“We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.
“It takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,” said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas.
“No one can do this without help.”
- ‘Criminal prosecution’ -
Two separate weather systems dumped massive rainfall on all of Sri Lanka, Sumatra, parts of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.
While across Asia seasonal monsoons bring rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly across the region.
But environmentalists and Indonesia’s government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flash flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages and stranded residents of rooftops.
Indonesia is among the countries with the largest annual forest loss due to mining, plantations and fires, and has seen the clearance of large tracts of its lush rainforest in recent decades.
Jakarta on Wednesday said it was revoking environmental permits of several companies suspected of worsening the disaster’s impact.
Eight companies will be summoned on Monday in a probe, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said.
Should evidence show corporate involvement in illegal logging or land clearing, which aggravated the disaster, “investigations could escalate to criminal prosecution,” Hanif said.
The scale of the disaster has made relief efforts challenging.
Indonesia’s government this week insisted it could handle the fallout, despite public outcry that not enough was being done.
Indonesia has borne the brunt, with its toll rising to 837 dead and 545 missing, authorities said, many in Sumatra’s northern Aceh province where more than 800,000 people have been displaced. Sri Lanka has reported 486 deaths, Thailand 276 and Malaysia two.
Many survivors in Sumatra were counting the cost of the deluge that started last week, leading to destructive flash-flooding and landslides.
“Our house was covered by soil up to the ceiling,” said Rumita Laurasibuea. “Around the house, there were piles of wood.”
The 42-year-old government employee, now sheltering in a school, told AFP that recovering from the flood’s impact “could take more than a year.”
“This is a calamity we must face,” added Hendra Vramenia, 37, who fled his village of Kampung Dalam in southeastern Aceh.
“Possessions can be regained,” he told AFP, saying he remained worried that people in remote areas risk starvation.
Hendra said he would consider evacuating his family to his
“I will evacuate the children and family there first. Or I might also consider renting a house for the family,” he added.
- ‘Still worried’ -
Indonesia’s meteorological agency warned Aceh could see “very heavy rain” through Saturday, with North and West Sumatra also at risk.
Indonesian flood victims said fresh rain was likely to bring fresh misery.
“We are still worried... If the rain comes again, where can we go? Where can we evacuate?” asked Rumita.
In Sri Lanka, authorities said floodwaters had begun to recede, but residents face a mammoth clean-up.
In the central town of Gampola, residents worked to clear the mud and water damage.
“We are getting volunteers from other areas to help with this clean-up,” Muslim cleric Faleeldeen Qadiri told AFP at the Gate Jumma Mosque.
“It takes 10 men a whole day to clean one house,” said a volunteer, who gave his name as Rinas.
“No one can do this without help.”
- ‘Criminal prosecution’ -
Two separate weather systems dumped massive rainfall on all of Sri Lanka, Sumatra, parts of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.
While across Asia seasonal monsoons bring rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly across the region.
But environmentalists and Indonesia’s government have pointed to the role forest loss played in the flash flooding and landslides that washed torrents of mud into villages and stranded residents of rooftops.
Indonesia is among the countries with the largest annual forest loss due to mining, plantations and fires, and has seen the clearance of large tracts of its lush rainforest in recent decades.
Jakarta on Wednesday said it was revoking environmental permits of several companies suspected of worsening the disaster’s impact.
Eight companies will be summoned on Monday in a probe, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said.
Should evidence show corporate involvement in illegal logging or land clearing, which aggravated the disaster, “investigations could escalate to criminal prosecution,” Hanif said.
The scale of the disaster has made relief efforts challenging.
Indonesia’s government this week insisted it could handle the fallout, despite public outcry that not enough was being done.
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