Business

New York, Sep 20 (PTI) India, the UAE and France have held their first trilateral ministerial meeting here on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly session and discussed a new and more contemporary way of doing diplomacy with a focus on active exchange of ideas between strategic partners and UNSC members.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived in New York on Sunday to participate in the high-level 77th session of the UN General Assembly, which kick-starts September 20 with the opening of the General Debate.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at the highest rate in 10 years to 7.5 per cent in 2022, with an expected surplus in the state's budget of about 6.3 per cent, according to credit rating agency S&P.

S&P expects the Saudi economy's productive capacity to grow in the long run due to the development of general finances and significant economic reforms.

20 Sep 2022; MEMO: Member of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkiye (DEIK) and President of the Turkiye-Qatar Business Council Basar Arıoglu said the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) railway link project would link Qatar with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq and could reach Turkiye. This would connect Doha with Europe, the Middle East and China.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: The United States is stalling in giving its approval for Israel to sell Arrow 3 missile defence system to Germany, the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Sunday.

German Chancellor Ulf Schulz had sought during his visit to Israel six months ago to purchase Israeli missiles, which is developed in coordination with the US and with US funding.

20 Sep 2022; MEMO: Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League Hossam Zaki said yesterday that several Arab states want Syria to be returned to the regional body.

In a statement, Zaki said: "Syria's attendance was not at all an Algerian condition, but Algeria wishes that Syria would be able to attend the next Arab League meeting in order to regain lost unity among Arab League member states."

He also said: "The return of Syria to the Arab League is not only an Algerian wish, but it was the wish of several other Arab states."

18 Sep 2022; MEMO: Jordan's foreign minister said a recent agreement with the US will contribute to his country's economic reform program, media reports said Saturday, Anadolu reports.

Ayman Safadi said the fourth US-Jordan Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership (MoU) signed Friday in Washington "will contribute to supporting the economic reform program," according to Jordan's official news agency Petra, which quoted Safadi.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: Iran does not rule out the possibility of a meeting on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly in New York on reviving its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.

18 Sep 2022; MEMO: Egypt's Suez Canal Authority plans to raise the transit fees for ships passing the waterway by 15% at the start of 2023, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the Canal Authority's chairman, Osama Rabie, said the transit fees for bulk and tourist ships will also be raised by 10% and will also be applied as of January 2023.

Rabie cited the increase in fees to current global inflation, which increased the operational costs and the costs of navigation services provided in the canal.

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: Israel has raised the state of alert and ordered its troops to prepare for any scenario following Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's threats to target the offshore Karish gas drilling rig, Hebrew Walla news site said.

On Saturday, Nasrallah said Israel's extraction of gas from the Karish gas field before Lebanon obtained its rights is a "red line."

19 Sep 2022; MEMO: China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a memorandum of understanding, through which China will help the UAE land its first rover on the moon.

The agreement, signed on Friday, between the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) for a future moon exploration mission.