President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met with Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri

Slow Pace of Strategic Indian Projects: These Can Potentially be Gateways to Sri Lanka’s Economic Revival

For India, delays in its strategic projects are not merely bureaucratic setbacks but a matter of national security. Colombo’s motives remain opaque, but for New Delhi, a presence in Sri Lanka’s North and East is non-negotiable. 

Beyond De-Dollarisation: Payment Diversification and Debt Resilience for Global South Nations

India could potentially become a bridge between regional economies and the wider Asian and Global South payment architecture. Greater interoperability could support remittances, tourism, trade and financial inclusion while reducing some transaction costs.

Critical Minerals: The New Oil of the 21st Century?

Critical minerals are not literally the new oil, but they may play a comparable role in defining the balance of power. The race has already begun, and India’s preparedness will determine whether it merely secures access to the resources of the new century or helps shape the industrial order that emerges from them.

Trade Pivot Weakens Pakistan’s Grip on Afghanistan, as Others Move in

Afghanistan has sought to limit or reduce its structural vulnerability by moving trade through Iran’s Chabahar Port and Central Asian corridors. Kabul is realigning Afghanistan’s external economic geography by looking towards Iran, Central Asia, China and India.

More on Economy, Trade and Development

Two killed as suicide bomber targets Chinese in Pakistan; Beijing says security situation ‘severe’ in Pakistan

A suicide bomber targeted a vehicle carrying Chinese workers in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, injuring a Chinese national and killing two Pakistani children playing by the roadside, confirmed Pakistani officials

China says willing to develop ‘friendly relations’ with Taliban

China on Monday said that it is ready to develop "friendly relations" with the Afghan Taliban, a day after the Sunni Fundamentalist insurgent group secured a decisively military victory over the now collapsed US-backed Afghan government

Nepal PM to form task force to look into border issue with China

Nepalis Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has assured his party members of forming a task force to look into the border issue with China in the northern Humla district

With China the elephant in the room, Quad officials discuss cooperation on supply chain, critical technologies

In a long-term plan to reduce dependence on China, senior officials of the four Quad countries - US, Japan,Australia and India - on Thursday explored collaboration to ensure “resilient supply chains” and enhance cooperation in areas of emerging and critical technologies

Chinese ambassador meets Pakistan’s Army chief, discusses enhanced strategic collaboration

In a significant meeting, China’s envoy in Pakistan called on Pakistan Army chief and discussed intensified defense collaboration while asserting that Beijing would continue to support Islamabad as a strategic partner. China is Pakistan's largest supplier of arms and its third-largest trading partner

China hosts Taliban delegation, calls group ‘pivotal military and political force’, flags its own terrorism concerns

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a high-level delegation of Taliban leaders in a strategically significant interaction, as the group took control of a large swathe of territory in Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of foreign forces, raising fear of a military takeover of the Afghan government

Former Maldives president Nasheed pleased to see British warship in South China Sea; Beijing hits back

Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed irked China when he said in a tweet that he was pleased to see a British Carrier Strike group enter the South China Sea

China-Pakistan to cooperate closely on Afghanistan

Pakistan and China said they will cooperate more closely on Afghanistan and called on all Afghan stakeholders to agree on a comprehensive ceasefire and find negotiated political settlement

Pakistan Foreign Minister, ISI chief in China for strategic dialogue, allay Chinese apprehensions on security for CPEC

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is in Beijing to participate in the third China-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue as the ties hit a bump following the death of nine Chinese workers working on a CPEC project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that is ruled by Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI party

Chinese envoy expresses satisfaction over Dasu blast probe

With Pakistan including Chinese officials in a joint investigation into the Dasu bus blast that killed 15 people, including nine workers from China, Beijing has expressed satisfaction over the ongoing probe, according to a senior Pakistani minister

Bangladesh says India is welcome to join China-led grouping of South Asian countries

India is welcome to join the newly launched grouping of South Asian countries on Covid-19 and poverty alleviation led by China, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momin, adding that the initiative isn’t meant to exclude India

Chinese-owned app TikTok blocked in Pakistan again

For the fourth time in less than a year, Pakistani authorities have blocked access to TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video-sharing platform, for its failure to take down "inappropriate content"

Pakistan includes Chinese officials in Dasu bus tragedy probe

In a decision that shows the extent of Chinese influence over Pakistan, the country's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Saturday that 15 Chinese officials have been included in the ongoing investigation on the Dasu bus tragedy in which 13 people, including nine Chinese nationals, were killed

China, Bangladesh underscore need for resuming tripartite talks on Rohingya repatriation; joint vaccine production

China and Bangladesh have agreed to work towards the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to the Rakhine state in Myanmar and underscored the need for resuming tripartite talks on the issue, a Bangladesh government statement said

Maldives President Solih speaks to China’s Xi Xingping days after call with Indian PM Modi

Amid the deepening crisis in the ruling party in the Maldives, President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih on Friday spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping--for the first time in recent years-- and discussed the Covid-19 and “other issues of mutual interest” in a phone call that came two days after his call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi