 Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three Indian digital payment systems - RuPay, BHIM app and UPI by SBI at the 'Business, Innovation and Community Event' in Singapore. With the launch, India's RuPay digital payments system was linked up with Singapore's 33-year old Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS). The move will enable RuPay users to make payments at all of NETS acceptance points across Singapore. Whereas, holders of Singapore NETS will be able to make online purchase on any National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) e-commerce merchant website in India, using 2.8 million RuPay point of sale terminals in India. |
| Source- DD News |
 Trilateral Naval Exercise Malabar 2018 between India, Japan and United States will be held off the coast of Guam in Philippine Sea from June 6-15, 2018. It will be 22nd edition of the naval exercise. The exercise comes at time of increased friction between China and US along with nations bordering resource rich South China Sea (SCS) as China is militarising reclaimed islands in it to further strengthen its claim. |
| This edition of annual exercise will focus on high-end war fighting skillsets, subject matter expert and professional exchanges. It will also include combined carrier strike group operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, medical operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, damage control, helicopter operations and visit, board, search and seizure operations. Indian Navy participation in this year’s exercises will include indigenous stealth frigate INS Sahyadri, fleet tanker INS Shakti, anti-submarine corvette INS Kamorta and P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft. Japan is deploying its helicopter carrier JDS Ise along with Kawasaki P-1 aircraft maritime patrol aircraft and Soryu class conventional submarines. US is sending its aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan along with strike complement of destroyers, nuclear attack submarines and support ships in addition to P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. |
| Malabar Exercise was started as Indo-US bilateral naval war drill in 1992. Since then it is held annually. Japan had formally joined the exercise as permanent participant in 2015, making it trilateral exercise. The primary aim of this multilateral exercise is to increase interoperability amongst navies of three countries and develop common understanding of procedures for Maritime Security Operations and deepen defence relations between them. In 2007, the exercise also saw participation of Australia and Singapore. All the participating nations in the exercise have clarified earlier that the Malabar series is not aimed at any specific country. |
 The United States has renamed its oldest and largest military command, US Pacific Command, or PACOM, to Indo-Pacific Command, according to the US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis. The decision has been taken in recognition of the growing importance of the Indian Ocean in US strategic thinking. The Trump administration had also renamed Asia Pacific as Indo-Pacific and identified India as one bookend of the region. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 As many as 26 countries, including India, will participate in the biennial Rim of the Pacific, RIMPAC military exercise from June 27 to August 2, in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The announcement was made by the Pentagon. It is the world’s largest international maritime exercise. RIMPAC involves 47 surface ships, five submarines, 18 national land forces, and more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel. The countries participating in the exercise include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom among others. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 On the first leg of 3-Nation visit, PM Modi has visited Indonesia. India and Indonesia signed 15 MoUs in the fields of defence, scientific and technological cooperation, railways and health, among others. PM Modi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a joint statement also agreed to develop further cooperation in maritime sector for "immense stability" in the region. |
| Source- ANI News |
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a three-nation visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.During his five-day visit, the PM will hold delegation level talks with the leadership of the three countries, on matters of mutual interest. |
| This will be Prime Minister’s first official visit to Indonesia and second official visit to Singapore. The visit assumes significance in the light of India’s thrust on “Act East” policy under which New Delhi desires to enhance bilateral relationship with the 10-member ASEAN grouping. In the first leg of his visit, Mr Modi will arrive in Indonesia. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 Colombia has formally joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization as global partner. It makes it first Latin American to join NATO. The announcement came after Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approved Colombia as a new member. NATO alliance had reached partnership agreement with Colombia back in May 2017, just after the Latin American signed peace agreement with communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), ending the longest-running civil conflict in Latin America. The peace deal had earned Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. As a global partner with NATO, Colombia will not necessarily have to take part in active military actions of NATO but will be fully accredited to 29-nation military alliance. It will cooperate on global security areas like cyber and maritime security, terrorism and links to organized crime. Other global partners of NATO include Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan. |
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 The first edition of Global Wind Summit will be held in Hamburg, Germany from September 25 to 28, 2018. It will be largest and most important meeting of the wind industry worldwide. The summit will see participation of of speakers from about 100 countries, including India, China, the US, Spain and Denmark. |
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 India launched its second IT corridor in China to cash in on the burgeoning Chinese software market. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has established one more Sino-Indian Digital Collaborative Opportunities Plaza (SIDCOP) platform in China. |
| Agreements worth about six million US Dollars were signed between Indian service providers and Chinese customers at the launch of the corridor by China’s Guiyang Municipal government and the NASSCOM. In December 2017, the NASSCOM established its first SIDCOP platform in the Chinese port city of Dalian, which is India’s first IT hub in China. |
| Source- AIR World Service |
 Colombia would be formally joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The announcement was made by the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. |
| With the move, Colombia will become the first Latin American nation to be a part of the alliance. It would be joining the bloc as a ‘global partner’, which means it will not necessarily have to take part in any joint military action and will be fully accredited in Brussels. |
| Source- The Reuters |
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