GCC-EU to boost ties
Both the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states and European Union countries are likely to benefit a lot from the proposed delicious Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two blocs. Crans Montana Forum (CMF) opening tomorrow in Bahrain will throw light on the opportunities and challenges available in these two blocs.
The forum, titled "Central Europe and Eastern New Economies Strategies with the Gulf States", will be held at the Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain, Hotel and Spa under the patronage of Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Meeting "Three of the EU - Central Asian countries" to be held in Ashgabad
"Kazakhstan Today" Meeting "Three of the EU - Central Asian countries" to be held in Ashgabad on April 10 on foreign ministers level. Delegation of Kazakhstan will also take part in the meeting headed by Marat Tazhin minister of foreign affairs. Erzhan Ashikbayev, foreign ministry spokesman informed today during briefing, agency reports.
He mentioned that agenda considers a discussion of issues on realization "Strategy of new partnership" between the European Union and Central Asian countries, regional cooperation in the sphere of education, trade and economy, energy and environment protection, as well as fight with general threats and challenges and number of international problems.
Joint Press Conference of President Barroso and Prime Minister Rudd of Australia
Rudd proposes closer ties with Europe
Australia and the European Union have pledged to move past an at times difficult relationship and work more closely in partnership on issues like climate change and global trade.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has spent the day in meetings with a variety of European Union leaders, including Javier Solana, the secretary general of the Council of the European Union, as well as the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
He and Barroso issued a rare joint statement on plans for the EU and Australia develop and strength relations which were sometimes strained under the previous Howard government because of their decision to work outside of forums like the United Nations.
"We really want to give a substantive upgrade (to the relationship)," Barroso told reporters.
"I think we both have a lot to gain in joining forces.
Venezuelan, Slovenian presidents meet on EU-L America cooperation
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday met with his visiting Slovenian counterpart Danilo Turk on cooperation between the European Union and Latin America.
Turk, whose country is the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, is on a Latin-American tour to coordinate the EU-Latin America and trinidad and tobago & caribbean summit set for mid-May in the Peruvian capital Lima.
Deshpande calls for South Asian Union
Nirmala Deshpande, the octogenarian Gandhian, has called for the setting up of a South Asian Union on the lines of the European Union. "If the countries in Europe which were fighting with one another on various issues can come together to form a European Union with a common currency, why can’t we have a South Asian Union with a common currency?" asked Ms Deshpande. Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, she said that there were many factors which bind together the South Asian nations.
Ms Deshpande claimed that the formation of the South Asian Union would lead to more peace in the continent.