India holds a conference of global intelligence chiefs

India holds a conference of global intelligence chiefs

• The Raisina Security Dialogue, which saw the participation of intelligence and security chiefs from over 26 countries this year, is modelled on the lines of the Munich Security Conference and Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue
• Amid the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and ahead of the Raisina Dialogue, India quietly held the second conference of intelligence and security chiefs and top officials from around the world, called the Raisina Security Dialogue, on March 1 which saw participation from over 26 countries, confirmed multiple sources. 
• “India is trying to make its presence felt in bringing together global intelligence agencies for exchanges on issues of common concern. 
• The focus of the discussions was largely on global security which encompassed counterterrorism, radicalisation, drug trafficking, and illegal arms smuggling, among others,” an official source with knowledge of the matter said.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval addressed the conference, sources said, which is modelled on the lines of the Munich Security Conference, the 59th edition of which took place from February 17 to 19, 2023, and Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue.
• It was a broad-based discussion and shows global confidence in India, said an official from one of the participating countries. While the U.S. was absent, intelligence chiefs from the U.K., France, Japan and Bahrain were among those present, the source stated.
• Sources said that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns was in India two weeks earlier from February 16 to 17. He also travelled to Sri Lanka recently, sources stated.
• Mr Burns who had missed the conference in April 2022 as well, last visited New Delhi in September 2021, to discuss the challenges arising from the Taliban takeover of Kabul which also coincided with the visit of the Russian Security Council Chief General Nikolai Patrushev. 
• The security conference is organised by the country’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) that reports to Mr Doval.
• The conference was held for the first time in April 2022, a day before the start of Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on “geopolitics and geo-strategy” organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in collaboration with Observer Research Foundation (ORF). The eighth edition this year was held from March 2-4.
• The conference comes a year after the war in Ukraine that is still ongoing and the global attention fixed on it, while India has been flagging other global issues including Afghanistan. Deep differences over Ukraine between the U.S.-led Western countries and the Russia-China combine thwarted India’s attempts to bring out a joint statement at the G-20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting last week with New Delhi issuing a Chair’s summary and an outcome document. 

Nations secure U.N. global high seas biodiversity pact

• The U.N treaty is seen as a crucial component in global efforts to bring 30% of the world's land and sea under protection by the end of the decade
• Negotiators from more than 100 countries completed a U.N. treaty to protect the high seas, a long-awaited step that environmental groups say will help reverse marine biodiversity losses and ensure sustainable development.
• The legally binding pact to conserve and ensure the sustainable use of ocean biodiversity, under discussion for 15 years, was finally agreed after five rounds of protracted U.N.-led negotiations that ended in New York, a day after the original deadline.
• "The ship has reached the shore," the U.N. conference president, Rena Lee, said after a marathon final day of talks.
• The treaty is seen as a crucial component in global efforts to bring 30% of the world's land and sea under protection by the end of the decade, a target known as "30 by 30" agreed in Montreal in December.
• Economic interests were a major sticking point throughout the latest round of negotiations, which began on February 20, with developing countries calling for a greater share of the spoils from the "blue economy", including the transfer of technology.
• An agreement to share the benefits of "marine genetic resources" used in industries like biotechnology also remained an area of contention until the end, dragging out talks.
• Greenpeace says 11 million square km (4.2 million square miles) of ocean needs to be put under protection every year until 2030 to meet the target.
• Very little of the high seas is subject to any protection, with pollution, acidification and overfishing posing a growing threat.
• "Countries must formally adopt the treaty and ratify it as quickly as possible to bring it into force, and then deliver the fully protected ocean sanctuaries our planet needs," said Laura Meller, a Greenpeace oceans campaigner who attended the talks.
• "The clock is still ticking to deliver 30 by 30. We have half a decade left, and we can't be complacent.”

China increases defence spending by 7.2%

• Beijing announces a lower-than-expected GDP target of “around 5%” for 2023
• China’s government announced a hike in defence spending by 7.2% to $225 billion in 2023, saying the rise was needed to deal with “complex security challenges”.
• Beijing also announced a lower than expected growth target of “around 5%” for the year, as the National People’s Congress (NPC), or Parliament, convened for its annual session in the capital.
• Outgoing Premier Li Keqiang delivered his last report to the NPC. The session will conclude on March 12, with Mr. Li set to be replaced by a close ally of President Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, who was promoted as the second-ranked leader of the Politburo at the ruling Communist Party’s once-in-five-year congress in October 2022.
• The NPC is a largely ceremonial legislature that endorses party policies as well as approves government appointments. This year’s session, which marks the end of Mr. Li’s second five-year term, will see sweeping changes across government ministries with officials set to be appointed for the next five years.
• Mr. Li, in his last work report to the NPC, announced an economic growth target of “around 5%” for 2023. Last year, the economy failed to meet its 5.5% target, growing by 3% as it struggled with the impact of the “zero-COVID” policy, which was finally withdrawn in December.
• With the ending of zero-COVID lockdowns and the return to normalcy expected to boost growth, Chinese officials have painted an optimistic picture of a recovery this year, although they have also warned of challenging external conditions.
• Mr. Li said the country would add “around 12 million new urban jobs” this year as well as continue to boost strategic, high-tech industries while “defusing major economic and financial risks”, which included local government debt as well as financial problems continuing to plague real estate enterprises.
• A draft Budget presented to the NPC, which will be approved during this session, proposed a 7.2% hike to take defence spending to 1.55 trillion Yuan ($225 billion), up from 1.45 trillion Yuan in 2022. In dollar terms, the Budget actually declined from $230 billion in 2022 given the depreciation in the Yuan.
• China’s still sizeable Budget remains around three times that of India’s, which was in February announced as ₹5.94 lakh crore ($72.6 billion). NPC spokesperson Wang Chao told reporters the increase in defence spending, which was only a slight rise from last year’s 7.1% hike, was “needed for meeting complex security challenges and for China to fulfil its responsibilities as a major country.”
• Mr Li’s work report, which outlined goals for the coming year, said the military “should work to carry out military operations, boost combat preparedness, and enhance military capabilities so as to accomplish the tasks entrusted to them by the Party and the people.”
• “The armed forces should intensify military training and preparedness across the board, develop new military strategic guidance, devote greater energy to training under combat conditions, and make well-coordinated efforts to strengthen military work in all directions and domains,” he said, adding that in the past year, the army “carried out operations in a firm and flexible way; and they effectively conducted major missions relating to border defence, maritime rights protection, counterterrorism and stability maintenance, disaster rescue and relief, COVID-19 response, peacekeeping, and merchant ship escorting.”